Blue And Red
by Winchestergirl123
Summary: Ever since she was little Grace knew her last name attracted attention, and why wouldn't it? Being a Stark had its ups and downs. For her the main issue was finding people who liked her for her and not just for the last name she had and for who her dad was. Maybe the boy with the warm brown eyes would be different. Peter Parker/OC. Marvel Universe. Sort of AU.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC. _

_**A/N:** Guess who watched Spider-Man: Homecoming? That's right, me! It was amazing and I loved Tom Holland as Spider-Man. He was such a precious cinnamon-roll. Watching the movie inspired me to write this fan-fic. It's sort of AU, but I hope you guys still like it and won't find it confusing. It's more of a fun fan-fic I guess you could say.(: This chapter is more of a introduction. I'll try to make the next chapter more longer. _

_**Summary:** Ever since she was little Grace knew her last name attracted attention, and why wouldn't it? Being a Stark had its ups and downs. For her the main issue was finding people who liked her for her and not just for the last name she had and for who her dad was. Maybe the boy with the warm brown eyes would be different. Peter Parker/OC. Marvel Universe. Sort of AU._

 _ **P.S.** Grace's face-claim is Victoria Moroles. _

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Grace** **Stark**_

 _ **May 14, 2007**_

For as long as he could remember Tony Stark did not want kids. He found kids to be a nuisance. A distraction. Even when he was a kid himself he found kids his age to be annoying and too loud for his liking. Which was saying something because even now as a grown adult he was considered to have those traits by everyone else. Annoying, rude, and even blunt and sarcastic. But throughout the years his dislike towards kids didn't lessen, making him not want to intend to have a child of his own.

As he grew up he rationalized that maybe that whole dislike towards kids was because of how his father was to him. But he never liked to dwell on the past, especially when it involved his father. A cold hearted bastard as he like to say to people who asked about Howard Stark. So he instead made up the excuse saying that he didn't like kids because he'd usually butted heads with those who were eerily similar to him. And for some reason kids always had similar characteristics as him. Perhaps maybe he was a man-child but that didn't make his dislike towards kids falter..

Except for today.

 _May 14, 2007._

A day that Tony Stark would always remember. Because today was a life changing day for the playboy billionaire.

From where he was sitting at Tony let out a jaded sigh. Today so far had been a heavily exhausting day. It started around eight o'clock in the morning. When his assistant, Virginia Potts, or as she preferred to be called Pepper had woken him up. It had been way to early for him but the wake up call was hurried and the way Pepper sounded Tony knew whatever the reason why he was being woken was serious. So he fought the urge to make any sort of facetious comment.

As they were making their into the elevator to go to to his living room, Pepper told him the real reason why she had woke him up. Apparently someone had dropped off a little girl at the reception area at Stark Tower and she had a note with her saying she was Tony Stark's daughter.

The reason left Tony blanched. His shock though was thrown to the side deciding that this whole thing was a prank or some type of mistake. Except any denial he had ended when he walked into his living room and he saw _her_.

A dark haired little girl.

The girl looked to be around five years old. She was sitting on one of his fancy looking couches and was gazing around the room with awe and slight wariness. She had on a blue dress that had butterflies over it and sneakers that lit up each time she moved her feet. The only other belongings she had with her was the small Dora the Explora backpack she had over her shoulder.

Despite not wanting to believe it at first, and even though there was no DNA test yet, deep down Tony knew the truth.

It was hard to deny now that he was seeing her. And it was obvious that they had similar facial features. They had the same colored hair, eyes and the same shape of nose. Looking at her he was frighten, but for some reason he also had a sense of happiness deep within him. But the first feeling outweighed the second one.

Even now as he waited outside the court room.

They needed to head in there in a few minutes. The judge was going to read the DNA results to him to officially let him now if she was his daughter or not. But Tony knew that wasn't really necessary. He already knew what the test results would say. The bigger question was what was he going to do afterwards? Whether he'd take responsibility for her or not.

Sitting next to him, Pepper could see the conflicted distressed state he was in. The red head briefly touched his hand. "I know this is a lot to take in but Grace needs someone and you're her father." She softly said to him. Even though the paternity test hadn't been read yet, she had a strong feeling this beautiful little girl was his. One would need to be blind to not see the similarities between them.

Tony's heart clenched.

 _Grace._

That had been the little girl's name. Something he would have liked to hear from her but she had been so shy to even say her name to him. Grace ended up telling Pepper and not him. Pepper had been the only one Grace had spoken to since arriving at the Tower. Even when they arrived to the court house when Grace was taken to wait inside for them, she only managed to say goodbye to Pepper and only gave Tony a brief glance. She was so shy around him. Not that he blamed her. He wasn't being mean or anything to Grace but he didn't have the most welcoming aura either. That was something he needed to work on if she was to be apart of his life.

 _A part of his life._

That made him feel different...uneasy in some way. Afraid.

How was he supposed to take care of a kid? He'd done his best to avoid them like the plague. He knew nothing about kids, especially little girls. Out of shame and uncertainty, Tony glanced at Pepper. "I'm not cut out to be a father, Pepper." He solemnly told her.

"You don't know that yet. You have to at least try." Pepper encouragingly said to him. She reached for the brief case she had with her and opened it. She pulled out a sealed envelope. "Here." She said handing it to him. When she saw the confused expression Tony had on she further explained. "Grace had it with her. She gave it to me before she went inside earlier. The instructions on it says that you're meant to read it and only you."

Tony held the envelope and stared at it with earnest.

Pepper stood up. "I'll start heading in now." She said to giving him the proper space he needed at the moment. Before she stepped inside she looked over at Tony and met his gaze. "Come in when you're ready."

Tony didn't say anything just nodded his head. That was enough of an answer for Pepper and he watched as she went inside the court room. After he was left alone, Tony's attention landed onto the unopened envelope. The anticipation of opening it was eating him up inside, but for the life of him he couldn't find the courage to do so. He needed to though. He couldn't just ignore it. With a deep breath, Tony finally started to slowly open it. Once out of the envelope he started to unfolded the letter that was in there. He then started to read letting the words sink into him.

 _Dear Tony,_

 _You probably don't remember me and that's something I do not take offense to. Even back when I first met you all those years ago you made it perfectly clear you weren't the long term type of guy. I knew you were a busy man back then, so I can only imagine how your life is now. But the reason I am writing you this letter is not to discuss your career, but to inform you of bigger news. Tony, I hate that this is the way you have to find out this life changing news, and I am sorry for not telling you sooner, but I had my reasons for doing so, but you have a daughter. I hope by the time you read this you have met her. Her name is Grace. Middle name Rose. She is five years old and she has nowhere else to go. The reason why I am sending her to you is because I am sick, in fact by the time you read this letter I've probably already passed away. Grace is now alone. She has no one else to care for her. I am not forcing you to keep her. I know you probably don't have time for a kid but as her biological father I am asking you to please find her a home. I know you have connections to find her a place where she will be taking care of. Please Tony don't let her get stuck in the system. I know that despite how the public views you you are more than just a heartless playboy. You have heart. I know you do._

 _Sincerely, Louisa García_

With a rush of emotions going through him, Tony lowered the letter down. All of this was just too much to taken in, but he did it anyway. He needed to remain composed in order to not become a emotional mess. Tony Stark could not lose his cool. That just wasn't a possibility, especially not out in public. What he read in the letter was just making it hard for him to do. Especially since the mother of Grace had passed away.

It took a few seconds of him going through his memory, but he eventually remembered who Louisa García was.

Louisa García was a woman who he had met a few years ago. She had been one of his past flings. Unlike the usual one night stands he had, Louisa had been different. He actually spent more than one day with her. And they didn't just spend time indoors, they actually got to know each other. From what Tony remembered, Louisa wasn't catty, she was nice and unlike the other woman who had fallen for his charms. She actually seemed to be interested more with his personality rather than his money. But alas Tony at the time didn't think much about it and once they went their separate ways, he moved on from the romantic weekend they had. He never thought back to the weekend he had with Louisa, not until now.

She might have not been a blimp in his radar but the letter she wrote touched an emotional part within him. She left an impact. With the letter and with Grace.

His daughter.

Just saying that in his head was leaving him speechless. Once again the same feelings from before resurfaced. He was both frighten and happy, except this time he decided to focus more on happier aspect. What Pepper said started to replay in his mind.

 _You have to at least try._

And she was right.

He was realizing that maybe this unexpected news was more a blessing than a curse.

Tony Stark right then and there vowed to be the one to care for Grace. Once the judge read the DNA test and confirmed Grace was his daughter he would take responsibility. He made a promise to himself that he would be a better father than his ever was to him.

His daughter Grace deserved one.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer:_** _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC. _

**_A/N:_** _Wow I can not believe how much of a response I got from just one chapter. I'_ _m glad you guys liked the last chapter! Enjoy this latest update!_

 ** _P.S._** _I do not own the novel **IT**. That belongs to Stephen King. Or any other books, TV shows, or movies that are mentioned in this chapter. _

* * *

**_Chapter 2: What a weird life_**

 ** _10 years later_**

If fifteen year old Grace Stark was asked to describe her life using only one word, she would describe it as weird.

With a dad who was an eccentric billionaire _―_ who also happened to be Iron Man _―_ and a whole team of superheroes who she considered most of them to be family or close friends _―_ things were bound to be a little more than unusual.

The list of these so called unusual people she knew was long.

For starters there was Captain America. Who she absolutely adored with all her heart when she was younger. Agent Coulson might have been his number one fan but Grace was a close second. This was something her dad found rather annoying. He never understood why she found Spangles so fascinating. He would always childishly tell her that he was Iron Man and that should have been way better than knowing Captain America. But alas her inner fan-girl was just too much for her to handle. She thought Captain America was awesome. Even to this day. Thankfully throughout the years her admiration had lowered down a bit. She was no longer that hyperactive kid around him. She guessed it had to do with her getting to know the man behind the costume. Steve Rogers. The kind hearted man who always gently reminded her to watch her language. Cause apparently to the super solider Tony wasn't doing that enough. Grace always found that to be amusing. It wasn't like she cursed a lot but she wasn't a total Saint when it came to language either. The occasional F bomb dropped every now and then. Along with other not so lady like words. She remembered the exact words she had said when she saw Captain America for the first time.

 _"Holy shit! It's really you!"_

To say Steve was shocked to hear that from her _―_ a ten year old girl at the time _―_ was a complete understatement. He was completely baffled. But she could have also sworn she saw some type of amusement pass through his eyes. Nevertheless, thanks to Steve's persistence he had managed to annoy her dad to give her a week worth of grounding thanks to that little comment. Much to her annoyance. She remembered what he had said to her dad. _"A ten year old girl shouldn't be speaking that way, Stark. What kind of example are you setting for her?"_

Back then what Steve said didn't mean much to Grace but as she grew it started to. Her dad never set a bad example for her. Sure he had his faults but never did he mistreat her or teach her to do bad things. She was too expressive with her language at times. Which was something she had learned on her own and it was something she had worked on solving throughout the years. Her dad though never really made a big deal of her cursing, except for that time when Steve kept pestering him about it. As she knows now Steve Rogers knew how to push her dad's buttons. And although her dad did end up reluctantly grounding her, his response to Steve was one that to this day made her smile. Which was the ever hilarious retort of, _"Put a zipper on it, Capsicle!"_

So meeting Captain America was definitely interesting and amusing but so was meeting Thor.

The blonde Demigod with the mystical hammer, who oddly enough always ended up eating all her pop-tarts whenever he visited. He was also the one who had stepped on her toys and broke them. She lost count of how many toys of hers he had crushed. Besides the destruction to her toys she got along fairly well with Thor. Once getting passed his thundering ways he was quite the funny fellow. The same could not be said about his brother. Meeting Loki, or as she liked to call him Rudolph, who had almost destroyed earth because he wanted to take over, was not a great experience. She felt relieved knowing he was now locked away in Asgard.

Then there was Dr. Bruce Banner, the brilliant but introverted man who she considered to be like a second dad to her. The same man who at first was rather reluctant to be anywhere near her in fear of him 'hulking' out and hurting her. Over the years though, his refusal to be anywhere near her lessened. With the help of Tony of course. Now whenever the Gamma radiation scientist wasn't busy he always found time to spend with her.

Of course her Uncle Rhodey, was on the list of people she knew and on the people she cared for the most. He had been with her dad since the beginning, even before she showed up in his life. Rhodey not only looked after her, but he helped keep an eye out on her dad as well. Which was something she was grateful for. As well as Pepper. The light red haired woman who was now the CEO of Stark's industries, but to Grace she was more than just some CEO. She was like a mom to her and she was part of the family.

Two other people Grace was close to now were Clint and Natasha. _S.H.I.E.L.D._ agents who thanks to her constant begging and permission from her dad, taught her a few fight moves here and there. She might have not been spy worthy material but she sure as hell knew how to throw a punch.

As of recent she was becoming more acquainted with Vision. A polite, calm, android. She actually liked Vision. He was just so mellow and peaceful to be around. He was also easy to talk to and even though he wasn't technically human, she still viewed him as one. Plus he offered great advice. The downside was that he still didn't grasp the concept of using doors. She lost count on how many times he has surprised her. Not to mention she had tried several of his attempts at cooking, and let's just say he had a lot to still learn about the culinary arts.

The two recent members with the super enhanced abilities, Wanda with her mind tricks and Pietro with his super speed, were also people she got along with. She was glad that they no longer held a grudge against her dad. The new found friendship she had with them allowed her to get close with them and she was the one who helped them with fitting in and understanding modern pop culture.

There were others she knew but she wasn't as close with like the others. Such as Sam Wilson, also known as the Falcon, who she made the occasional small talk every now and then. Grace only met Stephen Strange _―_ or as he was usually now called Doctor Strange _―_ once but that was enough for her to get an opinion on him. The teen liked him (even if he did butt heads with her dad). And why wouldn't she? He was a freakin' sorcerer. His powers reminded her of _Harry Potter._ A series she absolutely loved.

Then there was Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, who she only talked to a few times, but every time she did so for some reason he always told her to never go to Baskin Robbins for ice-cream. Saying that Baskin Robbins always finds out. She had no idea what that meant, but never asked him to elaborate.

So for the most part she pretty much knew everyone on the team. Well almost everyone. She had yet to personally meet T'Challa (Black Panther), Bucky Barnes, and Spider-Man, but that was besides the point.

Safe to say there was never a boring day in Grace Stark's life. Each day was a adventure of its own.

Even today.

Even if she had no idea how things were going to turn out today or who she was going to meet.

It was Saturday and the young Stark woke up at the same time she always did on the weekends.

At nine in the morning.

A time that was neither too early or too late. For her anyways. Her dad thought otherwise. He believed that nine o'clock in the morning was way too early. Then again he never was a morning person. He was more a night time person, which was the complete opposite of her. But that wasn't the only thing they differed from each other. It was just the one thing her dad liked to point out the most. He thought of her as a energizer bunny since she was always up before him. But not before Pepper. Pepper always woke up before either Grace and Tony.

So Grace was not at all surprised to see Pepper, all dressed and ready for the day, in the kitchen drinking coffee and looking over some paperwork that was scattered all over the kitchen counter.

"Good morning." Grace chirped as she reached into one of the cabinets. She grabbed a granola bar and put it inside her jean pockets.

Pepper looked up from the mess she had and gave her a smile. "Good morning." She took in the young teens outfit. Grace was wearing a blue t-shirt, black jeans, her black vans, a grey beanie over her head, and she could see the sunglasses that were tucked inside her jean pockets. The sunglasses and beanie though is what really informed her of what was going on. This was her incognito outfit. Which only meant one thing. "You going out?" She asked her.

Grace nodded her head. "Yup! Gonna head to the bookstore and buy myself a book."

Pepper's lips quirked. "Another one? I thought you were reading, _Pride and Prejudice_?"

"I was." Grace replied. She shrugged her shoulders. "I already finished."

"Already?" Pepper exclaimed, astonished. "Grace you bought that book two days ago."

Grace smiled. "Pepper you should know by now that books that are close to 400 pages is nothing new to me. I want more."

She had a point there. The girl could read a book so quick it made Pepper's head take a wild spin. "So what book are you going to read next?"

" _IT by Stephen King._ " Grace quickly replied.

Pepper's eyes widen a bit. "Isn't that the one with the clown?"

Grace grew sheepish. "Uh...yeah."

Pepper now looked at her as if she had just asked to go sky diving without the parachute. "Why in the world would you want to read that book? Do you want nightmares?"

Grace bit the inside of her cheek. "Because I want to read it before the movie comes out."

"Isn't there already a movie out about it?" Pepper asked continuing with her questions.

Grace shifted her feet. "Yes, but that's the 1990's version. I want to read it for the remake that's going to come out in a few months."

Pepper still had on a muddled expression."Why?"

"Because _Bill Skarsgård_ going to be in it and he's playing the lead role." Grace finally shyly admitted to her.

"That's why you want to read it?" Pepper asked resisting the urge to laugh. Grace sure was acting like a teenage girl right now. It seemed like just yesterday she was still that little girl who thought boys were gross because they had boy germs. But now here she was at fifteen getting crushes. Actually willing to be scared because the actor she was crushing over was going to be in the movie. Oh how time went by fast and how she had changed. She had no doubt if Tony overheard her say that he would have either light heartily teased her or flat out refused to believe that she actually had a crush on someone.

Grace sighed. She knew her crush on _Bill Skarsgård_ was ridiculous, but she was too into him to care what other people thought of it. Or that's what she would tell herself. She tried appearing to be nonchalant. "Yeah, but also because I am genuinely interested with the plot of the story." She said, but she could tell Pepper wasn't at all buying that reason.

"Okay, well have fun with that." Pepper replied with her amused smile.

Grace just rolled her eyes playfully. She was making her way towards the elevator before Pepper spoke up again. Her tone of voice held total mother hen protectiveness.

"Did you take your medication when you woke up?"

Grace should have known she was going to ask her that. It was a question that had been asked since she was thirteen years old. Sometimes by Pepper, other times by her dad. She glanced over her shoulder. "As if I ever forget." Which was true...she never forgot to take her medication. She always was on time with taking it. In the mornings and afternoons. The consequences of not made her anxious.

Pepper, relieved, nodded her head. "Just double checking."

Grace couldn't help but add a side comment. "Like always?"

Pepper frowned a little. "Is it a crime to worry over you?"

Grace's eyes soften. "No..." She answered. "But my dad already worries enough. You don't need to do."

"Well you're out of luck because I do worry." Pepper's expression became lighthearted. "That's my over nurture nature for you. Years of looking after your dad did that to me."

Grace laughed a little. "Tell my dad I went out, yeah?"

"I will." Pepper said nodding her head. A smiled escaped her. "When he wakes up that is." She then tilted her head. "You know you don't have to walk or take the bus, you can just have Happy take you."

Grace knew of that option but she wanted to feel like a normal girl her age. And having a personal driver with a nice looking car was not going to make her feel that way. Not at all.

She shook her head.

"No, that's okay."

"You sure?" Pepper asked one more time.

"Yeah, besides I can use the fresh air." Grace confirmed.

"At least eat something." Pepper insisted.

Grace held up the granola bar she had.

Pepper gave her a look of disapproval. "That is not breakfast."

Grace put the granola bar back inside her pocket. "Don't worry. I'll stop somewhere to get something to eat." She reassured her.

Pepper accepted her answer. "Fine but call if you need anything."

"Will do!" Grace exclaimed before she stepped into the elevator.

 _"Where to, Grace?"_

Grace smiled at hearing her dad's A.I. Sure she missed hearing Jarvis' voice, but Friday's was just as soothing. "To the lobby, Friday." She answered kindly to her.

 _"Will today be a busy day for you?"_

Grace reached for the granola bar she had and then raised it as if she were toasting. "Here's hoping." She cheered before unwrapping the granola bar and then taking a huge bite.

* * *

Grace ended up stopping for doughnuts.

Which wasn't exactly considered breakfast, but could you blame her? They just looked so delicious. Of course when asked by Pepper or her dad, she'd just say she ate at _McDonalds'_ or something. Which besides the place, she wasn't really lying. She was going to eat a real meal eventually. It's just that she was really excited to head to the book store and buy the book she had been wanting.

Once eating the box of doughnuts she bought, she proceeded on her way to the book store. Through the whole walk, she kept readjusting her beanie and sunglasses. It was crucial for people not to recognize her. The last thing she wanted was to be gawked at because she was Tony Stark's daughter. Fifteen years old and she was still unnerved by how much attention she gets from the public. Sometimes it wasn't so bad but for the most part it was just too much to handle.

Thankfully the book store wasn't that far away from the doughnut place. With a smile on her face, Grace walked into the store. Already being familiar with the store she quickly went to the area that had all of _Stephen King's_ works. She had no problem finding the book and once she had it she went to line up for the cash register. On her way there she passed by a group of kids her age. They were lounging around the fantasy book area and it looked like they were having an interesting conversation with each other. What held her attention though was how happy and friendly they looked around each other. It was obvious they were all friends with each other.

A feeling of jealousy passed through her.

This was not an uncommon feeling for Grace. Whenever she saw people her age hanging out she always got jealous and sad. Since it just made her realize how without friends her age she really was.

The line moving forward caused her to move her gaze away from the group of friends.

"Next!" Came a over the top girl voice.

This caused Grace to furrow her eyebrows. Her bemusement grew once she saw who was behind the counter. Although she was wearing sunglasses her vision was still good. Usually there was an older woman at the cash register. Marge was her name she believed. But instead of the nice looking older woman, there was a girl with medium blonde length hair who looked college aged. Guess the store hired someone new. Grace noticed how bored the girl looked. Perhaps she just wasn't liking the job? Grace pondered as she made her way to the counter.

The blonde girl gave her a quick look. She pursed her lips when she saw the book she had with her. "Sweetie, wouldn't you want something less scary and age appropriate? How about _Harry Potter_?"

Grace cringed at the fact that she had been called sweetie. Only her dad was allowed to call her that. She harden her expression as she slid the book towards her. "Lady, I finished the _Harry Potter_ series within a week when I was eight years old. Just ring me up already." She didn't mean to sound so rude, but she didn't like how the girl assumed she wasn't able to handle an adult book like _IT_. Or maybe it was just her natural _Slytherin_ coming out of hiding.

The blonde pressed her lips together. "Aren't you the assertive one."

Grace knew she was being sarcastic. Please, her dad was Tony Stark, she spoke sarcasm fluently. She gave her a sardonic like smile. "You bet."

The girl bristled at that. She then complied and rung her up. She bagged her book and then took the money that was handed to her. She then held up the receipt. "Would you like the receipt? You know in case you want to return it for another book?"

 _Translation: In case you're too stupid to understand it._

Grace's felt her anger and annoyance rise. "No, thanks." She replied sharply.

The girl however disregarded her answer. "I'll put it inside anyways." She said as she threw the receipt inside the bag. She then gave her a smile as if knowing how much she was annoying her. "You're welcome."

Never did Grace think it was possible for someone to sound like _Sadie Saxton_ from the TV show _Awkward_ , but the girl sounded so much like said character. Which just bothered the teen even more.

Grace wanted more than anything to take off her sunglasses right then and there to let this rude older girl know who she was talking down to. She wanted to be _Emma Roberts'_ character from _American Horror Story_ and be like, _"Surprise bitch!"_ but she kept her cool. She knew reveling her true identity would just cause trouble. Trouble she wanted to avoid. She waited until she was outside the bookstore to rip up the receipt. And boy did it feel good when she did so.

* * *

Once Grace cooled down from that incident, her hunger came with a vengeance. She wanted to spend a little time at the park and read a few chapters, but she couldn't ignore her stomach. It was hungry and she knew if she waited longer she was just going to get hangry.

Hungry and angry, which was not a good combination.

She spent a few minutes on _Yelp_ on her cellphone to see reviews of places she could go eat at. She could have just made it easier on herself and gone to that shawarma place her dad loved so much but she was strangely craving a sandwich today. According to _Yelp_ there was this sandwich shop with really good reviews. Delmar's. It was located in Queens though so she would have to take a cab to get there.

But Grace didn't' mind the trip. She just wanted her sandwich.

So she got a cab, took her belongings, and ordered the driver to drive to where this awesome sandwich shop was at. Thankfully traffic wasn't that bad and she was able to arrive in good time. She paid the driver and grabbed her belongings before getting out. She then readjusted her beanie and sunglasses as she made her way inside the sandwich shop.

The first thought that came to Grace's mind when stepping inside Delmar's was that it was quaint. It was small but not too small were it felt stuffy. It was the right size small. There was a few people sitting around eating their sandwiches. That just made Grace's stomach rumble more. She didn't have to wait long for an employer to assist her.

"Hello." Said a middle aged man that was behind the counter. "How may I help you?"

Grace turned to face him. Her attention was briefly taken due to the cat that was laying on one of the counters. She mentally awed because she had always liked cats. When she heard the man cough, she offered a apologetic smile. She quickly looked over the menu that was on the board. "Um, can I get the number one special?" The man nodded his head and began writing down her order. "Actually can I get two orders of the number one special?" She figured she'd get her dad something to eat. He'd probably already be awake right now and although he most likely have already ate, she wanted to get him his lunch. Which technically this was her lunch too. Breakfast as well. "No mayo on either of them." Grace added holding in her expression of ew. She and her dad hated mayo.

The man once again nodded his head. "Alright be ready in a few. What's your name?"

Grace frowned. "My name?"

The man gave her a weird look. "Yeah, your name for when your order gets called."

Oh...now she felt silly. Of course they need to know 'her' name. This shouldn't have been difficult to answer, but for some reason it was. "Uh..." A few seconds passed before she was able to come up with one. "Stevie...last name Nicks."

The man gave her a funny look at hearing that name. Grace just gave him a sheepish smile. Luckily for her the man just shook his head and moved onto making her sandwich. She sighed in relief. Out of all the places she could have gone...but according to _Yelp_ this shop sold the best sandwiches in Queens. Or that's what the reviews said online. She was about to find out if that was true.

Grace backed away from the counter and headed towards an empty table. She sat down and then took out the book she had bought. Excitement went through her as she read the title. Although frighten by how horrific the book might be, she wanted more than anything than to read the whole book and prove that annoying book store cashier wrong. She wasn't stupid. Sure she didn't have her dad's intelligence when it came to math and science, but she was smart. She loved writing and reading. English was her strong suit. And she wasn't about to be brought down due to some girl's judgement. Not again. Deciding to wait until she was somewhere else, Grace put her book back inside the bag. A few minutes passed of her still waiting before she decided to take out her cellphone. She proceeded to play _Pokemon Go._ She was in the process of actually capturing a _Pikachu_ when a bell rang.

"Order for.. _.Stevie Nicks_?"

The person calling out the order sounded more like they asking a question, which made Grace let out a giggle. Once putting away her phone, she got up from her seat and made her way towards the cashier. Taking out the extra dollar bills she had, she paid the man. She then grabbed the to go order that was inside the bag. Thankfully the bags she had weren't that heavy. Although maybe if she hadn't been focusing on making sure everything was inside the bag, then she wouldn't have bumped into him. But then again maybe that was meant to happen.

The sudden impact made Grace lose her balance. Luckily she hadn't dropped any of her bags, but the same could not be said about her sunglasses. Realizing that she was no longer wearing them made her want to curl into a ball. And the fact that she had bumped into someone made things worse. Her gaze went towards the floor and quickly began to search for her sunglasses. She saw them but before she was able to grab them the person she had bumped into, who she now knew was a boy with dark haired, reached for them.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. Here." The boy said as he grabbed the sunglasses. He made a move to give it to her, but stopped when he fully saw her face. His brown eyes widen in awe and his cheeks started to get warm. "Oh my God, you're _―_ "

Before he was able to finish his sentence, Grace put her hand over his mouth. " _Shh!"_ She whispered lowly. The teen looked around to see if they had attracted attention from the other customers. She relaxed when it appeared no eyes were on them. She let her hand fall down from the boy's mouth. After that she noticed how he was still looking at her with what looked like admiration. For a second there his staring got to her, but not in a bad way. He just had really nice warm brown eyes.

If it weren't for how anxious she was, Grace would have blushed, but she was too focused on trying to not be noticed. She suddenly realized how she had just invaded his personal space. "Sorry about that." She apologized. She then grabbed the sunglasses from him and put them on. After adjusting them she was able notice how the boy was still staring at her. "Uh, hello?" She questioned bemused. Yet again he did not respond. "Yo!" She said snapping her fingers. "You there?"

The boy continued to gawk at her before he was able to get a hold of himself. Well tried to. He was still in total shock. "You're _―_ she's _―_ are you really here right now?"

Grace huffed. "I'm not who you think I am. I mean, obviously I am her, but right now I am just a normal teenage girl trying to enjoy her sandwich." Even though he probably couldn't tell because of her sunglasses, she still gave him a pointed look. "You never saw me, okay?"

The boy had to blink a couple times before he was able to nod his head. He cleared his throat."Right, of course."

Grace managed a small smile. "Okay then. Bye." She said and then without saying or even looking at him again, she hurriedly left the sandwich shop.

Behind her stood a very awed and flustered Peter Parker. The reason being? Well he had finally met Tony Stark's daughter.

"Wow." He said letting out a heartfelt sigh. Talk about an interesting day.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer:_** _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** _Hello everyone!_ _A lot of people were asking me when this story takes places, and I would say it takes place after Civil war. Like I said before this story is sorta AU, so it's not gonna follow exactly everything that has happened within the movies. For the most part, but I might change a thing or two. I would advise you guys to just enjoy this little story and not worry so much. (: This chapter's short, but sweet._

* * *

 ** _Chapter 3: The boy with the warm brown eyes_**

After returning to the Tower and putting her book away in her room, Grace wasn't at all surprised when Friday informed her that her dad was in the lab. By now she knew the lab was like his second home. When she younger she sometimes felt her dad spent way too much time in there. As a little girl she used to get this fear of being abandoned by him because of his work. But now that she was older, she understand her dad better. Especially with the life changing events that happened in 2008. She and her dad weren't as close before then, but afterwards their relationship improved drastically. Since then she knew that he wasn't going to abandon her. He wasn't leaving her life then and he certainly wasn't now.

Making her way inside, Grace immediately heard _Pink Floyd_ being played in the lab. She was a little taken back to see that her dad was the only one in there. Usually a disheveled Bruce Banner would be in the lab keeping him company as he did his own work. Or sometimes Jane Foster, an astrophysicists, would be in the lab as well, but that was only when Thor visited. So that explained her absence for the time being. But not Bruce's. Grace, however, just shrugged this off, assuming he was out today. God knows even a bright scientist needs a day off. Still, by now she had grown used to seeing the three scientists running around in the lab. Right now it was just her dad, and he wasn't running around. He instead was sitting down at one of his desks and all of his attention was on whatever device he was working on.

"Eh, what's the diagnosis, doc?" Grace asked trying her best to sound like Bugs Bunny. In her opinion she nailed the impersonation.

The music completely stopped when Tony dropped whatever he was doing. Spinning his chair around, he turned to face her. He then did a dramatic like sigh. "I say they'll live." After saying that he took notice of what she was wearing. "Pepper said you went out to buy a book?"

"Yeah." The teen said, sounding like herself again. "I went incognito." She informed her dad. She wasn't wearing those silly sunglasses anymore, but she still had on the rest of her outfit. Beanie included.

"Yeah, I got that." Tony said nodding his head. He knew that whenever his daughter went out to the public, and it wasn't for a event she needed to attend, that she much preferred to be in disguise. Grace wasn't one for the public eye. She was an introvert. The complete opposite of him. He kept the optimistic thought that as she grew older she would get passed her fear of the public. But at fifteen she still avoided attention whenever given the chance. He felt bad because most of the attention was because of him and the last name that was given to him from birth, but that was the curse of being a Stark. Constant attention on one self. And that was something that Grace was burden with when he got guardianship over her. Constant attention by others was something he couldn't change, no matter how much he wanted to for her. "How did it go?" He asked her. wanting to clear from his brooding thoughts. "You get what you wanted?"

"I did, and everything went well." Grace answered deciding not to tell him about the rude older girl she had encountered. "I brought us back sandwiches." She told him showing the to go bag she had with her. "I ordered you the number one special they had. Same as me. I hope you like it."

Tony waved his hand. "Thanks, and you know I'm not picky with food. Especially when you order it. You have good taste. Just as long as the sandwich doesn't have _―_ "

"Mayo." Grace easily finished for him. She then shuddered and made a face of disgust. "Gross."

Tony looked proud. He waved a finger at her. "That right there is why you're my daughter. The mutual dislike we have for mayo binds us together."

Grace playfully rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure that's the only reason why."

"Well that along with your natural good looks that you inherited from me." Tony said with a grin.

"So, what are you working on?" Grace asked deciding to move on the conversation. She walked closer to where her dad was at. On the table he was sitting near there was two strange identical looking devices. She looked at them with curiosity. "They're odd looking? Cool, but odd. What are they?"

Tony's eyes brighten with her puzzled look of wonderment she had on. "These my darling daughter are Spider-Man's wrist web-shooters."

"They are?" Grace questioned with awe. Once the shock wore off she tilted her head. "So you're fixing them?" She asked as she stared at such devices. Sure she had seen many superhero devices before, but these web-shooters were cool looking.

"Eh, I'm making sure the extra features I put in are working before giving it back to Spidey." Tony easily explained to her. A mischievous smile then appeared on his face. "You want to see something cool?" He suddenly asked her.

Not at all noticing the smile he had on, Grace nodded her head. "Sure." She answered excitedly.

Tony grabbed one of the wrist web-shooters. He steadied his arm before aiming up the device in front of him. "Okay, keep your eye on the soda can that's across from us." He told his daughter and then pressed the button activating the release of the spider webbing.

Grace was completely thrown off when she saw how the spider webbing jumped off the soda can after it had knocked it down. She and her dad barely got out of the way, ducking downwards towards the ground as the webbing passed over their heads. It hit the lab walls making it go all over the place. She had to admit, no matter how strange it was, that it was a comical scene that reminded her of the movie _Flubber_. She finally stood up when the webbing stopped moving around. She let out a relieved sigh when she noticed the sandwiches weren't ruined. She had to look around for a few seconds before she finally saw where the webbing had stopped at. It ended up stopping near another lab table not that far away from them. Grace was just glad there wasn't any glass objects on said table that could have been broken.

Slightly wide eyed and still somewhat muddled, Grace looked at her dad. "What the hell was that?!" She exclaimed. She expected to see spider webbing but not spider webbing that bounced off of every surface it hit.

Standing up as well, Tony dusted himself. Grace noticed that he didn't look shocked, just thoughtful. "Oops, that would be the ricochet webbing. It was supposed to shoot out normal webbing." He gave mild shrug. "Guess I need to tweak a few things. Hmm..."

"Yeah think?" Grace asked rhetorically. "Geez, dad, that thing went all over the place."

"Well it's supposed to, sweetie. Hence ricochet." Tony said and then patted her head. He laughed when she gently pushed away his hand from her. When he saw the small worried look she had, he decided to clear things out for her. "Don't worry, sure it's somewhat dangerous, but it's not lethal. It wouldn't actually kill anyone."

Grace felt better knowing this. However there was one thing she wanted to discuss. She steadied her eyes on her dad. "Still fix it before you give that back to Spider-Man and he ends up using it. Imagine his reaction."

Tony let out the famous Stark laugh at that thought. "Oh that would be hilarious! Underoos would be so surprised! Maybe I should just leave it as it is then."

Grace furrowed her eyebrows at that nickname. Underoos? Huh? She shook her head getting back on topic. " _Dad_." She said pointedly.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Fine." He sighed in mock disappointment. "I'll fix it." He right away started to tinker with what needed to be adjusted on the device. Once done he glanced towards his daughter. To ensure that he did fix it he activated the wrist web-shooter. This time the webbing released normally and did not ricochet. He stared at his daughter. "Happy?"

"Yes." Grace answered with a smile.

"You know sometimes you act more like an adult than me." Tony commented playfully. "It's astonishing really."

Grace scoffed. She knew he joking, but still resisted the urge to full on smile. "Me? Please, anyone can act more like an adult than you."

Tony looked up and lifted his arms up in the air. "I'm saying it now, my daughter is a thirty year old stuck in a fifteen year old's body." He said to no one in general. When he looked at her again, he lowered his arms. A grin then appeared on his face at how done she looked with his teasing.

" _Haha_." Grace faked laugh. Her lips though wanted to form into a smile. "So are we gonna eat or what?" She asked as she held up the the to go bag again.

Tony made his way towards her. "Don't need to tell me again."

And she didn't.

About a half hour later found both Starks in the lab, only this time their stomachs were full with the delicious lunch they just had.

"Oh my God." Tony said looking at the now empty to go box, open mouthed. How he wished it wasn't empty. "That was indeed the most delicious sandwich I have ever had. Hands down. _Amazing_."

Grace, who was sitting next to him, hummed in agreement. "I give it a ten out of ten. _Yelp_ was definitely right about this place."

"Where did you go to anyways?" Tony asked, curious. He needed to know where she bought these sandwiches. They were just so good. How could he...a New York resident not know about a place that makes these amazing sandwiches. It was ludicrous.

Grace went to explain. "Oh, I went to this small place in Qu _―_ "

" _Sir."_ Friday's voice interrupted. _"You have a visitor in the main floor."_

"Who is it?" Tony asked his A.I.

 _"Peter Parker."_

Tony snapped his fingers in realization. "Oh, that's right! He's here to pick up his web shooters. Send him up to the main living room and tell him I'm on my way." He told his A.I.

 _"Yes, Mr. Stark."_

Grace's eyes widen at what her dad said. "Wait, Spider-Man is here?" She didn't mean to sound so excited, but she couldn't help how her voice rose with interest. Spider-Man was one of the superheros she hadn't met yet, and if he was here at the Tower, why wouldn't she use this chance to meet him? She of course told herself to mentally calm down. She knew from experience how overbearing people can be. The last thing she wanted was to annoy Spider-Man. She still felt foolish with how she acted like a total fan when she was younger whenever she was around Captain America. She inwardly cringed. Never again.

Tony took in how excited and curious his daughter. True he shouldn't have said anything regarding Spider-Man's identity, but this was Grace. The girl who had known about this superhero nonsense since she was six. If there was anyone he absolutely trusted other than Pepper, it was her. The teen was completely trust worthy. And anyways it wasn't like he could lie his way out of this one. He sighed. "Yes, he is."

Grace looked sheepish. "Can I meet him?" She asked almost shyly.

Tony hesitated. He was okay with her knowing who was Spider-Man, but did he want her to meet him? The pout she had on though was what finalized his decision. Damn her for using such powers against him. "Fine..." He said giving in.

Grace jumped from her seat. "Thanks, dad!" She said as she hugged him.

Even though Tony tried to appear nonchalant, the truth was inside he was basking in the hug. "Yeah, yeah." He said as he returned it. After a few seconds he pulled away. "Let's go, Underoos is probably have a show right now." He told her as he grabbed the wrist web-shooters.

Grace was about to question why that was, but mess the webbing cost caught her attention. "Wait, shouldn't we clean that up?" She asked, pointing to where the spider webbing was at. She looked at such mess with a puzzled expression. She wasn't one for messes, and neither was her dad. He wasn't a total neat freak, but he liked to keep things in check. And anyways this was his lab, if there was one place her dad liked to keep clean and organized it was his lab. But to her bemusement he didn't look bothered by the mess he had accidentally caused.

"Nah, it'll dissolve in about two hours." Tony said nonchalantly. His voice then took a more up beat tone. "Now do you want to meet Spidey or not?"

Not holding back this time, with a smile on her face Grace followed her dad.

Once they were in the elevator Grace decided to ask her dad the question that had been pestering her. "Hey dad, why do you call Spider-Man, Underoos?"

Tony grinned. "Do I really need to explain why I call him that?"

Grace just shook her head in amusement. "You and your nicknames. I still can't get over how you call Clint, Katniss or Legolas."

"Psh, they should be happy that I gave them nicknames. My nicknames are awesome." Tony said as he leaned against the elevator wall.

"Says you." Grace retorted with a smile.

"My say is all that matters, sweetie." Tony quickly replied back to her.

Grace didn't answer back, but instead released a amused smile. It was one Tony was able to see for himself making him feel good about lifting his daughter's spirits more than it already was.

Pretty soon Friday informed them that they were at the main living floor. Grace was filled with excitement, but inwardly calmed herself. Once the elevator doors open, she let her dad exit first. She then followed close behind him. Letting her eyes wander the living room she expected to right away see this Peter Parker aka Spider-Man, but it wasn't until her dad spoke up that she finally caught sight of him.

"Ah, there you are Underoos. What the hell are you doing hiding behind my couch?"

Grace's expression became one of puzzlement. There awkwardly coming out of hiding behind the couch was the boy she had bumped into earlier. He gave them a wave and a sheepish smile.

This was Spider-Man? This boy? The boy with the warm brown eyes?

No...it couldn't be...could it?

Clearly it could.

Grace was still bewildered at such news. This feeling grew more when the boy shyly came closer towards them. She noticed as he did so how he was trying his hardest to make his staring at her discreet, but his red cheeks weren't helping him.

It was noticeable, and Grace wasn't the only one who was puzzled by this.

"What's with the staring?" Tony bluntly asked. Mainly towards Peter who was standing a few feet away. He narrowed his eyes at him. He was acting awkward. More so then usual. Something was up.

Both Peter and Grace lowered their gazes at such question. They both though were pretty much thinking the same thing.

 _Well, this is awkward._


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_ **_Already 100 favorites and more than 100 followers? Guy, you are all awesome! I was going to update sooner but I had family from my sister in law come over and we ended up going to the movies. Also, I've been freaking over the new **IT** trailer and that made me want to updated my **IT** fan-fic. Seriously that movie is making me more and more excited every time they release a new teaser or trailer. Anyways, enjoy this new update!_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 4: Spider-Man? More like Spider-Boy**_

Grace had been in many awkward situations before in her life. Living in the Avengers Tower, and having interacted with the various team members that were there whenever they weren't at the Avengers Facility, guaranteed for awkward situations to occur every now and again.

For instance the most recent awkward situation she had been in happened a few weeks ago. When she thought she had the Tower all to herself. This lead her to freely listen to the _Spice Girls_ on the stereo with the volume on full blast. She carelessly danced and sang along to the band's song _Wannabe._ All had been fine and dandy until she danced her way into the kitchen. It took her almost a minute until she realized that she wasn't by herself. No, the kitchen was filled with amused looking Avengers. Most of the team members had been there to witness her discombobulated dance moves and horrible singing skills.

Except the most embarrassing part was that her dad had made Friday record the whole ordeal.

Grace lost count how many times she begged him to delete the video, but Tony wouldn't do so. Her dad had told her it was too cute of a video to delete. All she hoped for now was that he wouldn't show anyone else that video. She'd be forced to live under a rock if he did. But it's been weeks since that dancing and singing fiasco happened and her dad hadn't been mentioning the video at all. Hopefully that meant she and everyone else would be able to look past that one of many embarrassing awkward moments of her life.

Since here she was...having another awkward moment. Sure, Grace had been through far worse, (the video of her silly dancing with a broom around the Tower was proof of that) but for some reason her reunion with this Peter Parker fellow seemed to take the cake for most awkward moment.

Utter complete silence filled the main living room.

Neither teen was saying anything to each other and both of them were doing their best to not look at one another.

Tony on the other hand was beginning to grow more important. Rolling his eyes he decided to finally speak up. Taking the blunt direct approach. "Alright, what's going on?" He was sensing something was going on between the two teenagers. First they had been discreetly staring at each other and now they were ignoring each others gazes. Something was definitely up, but he didn't know what exactly. And he didn't like that. He never was the one to like being left out of the loop. He huffed. "What's with the silent treatment and the now avoiding eye contact?'

Peter slowly lifted his eyes towards Grace. He waited to see if she would say anything, but from the looks of it, it seemed like she wasn't going to. She was just intently looking at the ground. He then saw how impatient Mr. Stark looked, and his nerves got the better of him. He told him the truth.

"We've met each other already." Peter hurriedly blurted out.

This outburst caused Grace to finally look at him. She threw him a look, all while mentally face palming herself. Did he not remember what she had told him earlier? She pursed her lips. Judging by how jittery he was the answer was no.

Tony's eyes widen a bit. "What? When?"

Once again it had been Peter who answered. It seemed like he couldn't stop talking. "Earlier today. I bumped into her by accident in Queens at the local sandwich shop."

Tony turned to look at his daughter. He frowned. "You went to Queens? By _yourself_?"

Grace had to hold in an eye-roll. Her dad could really be overprotective at times. "Please dad, don't act all surprised. I've gone to farther places and by myself no less. A trip to Queens is nothing to worry over."

Peter glanced between Grace and Mr. Stark. His blush grew more once he kept noticing more of her features. Her skin was a nice olive color and her hair was a nice dark brown. It was her eyes that really drew him in. They were dark but soft looking. Inwardly shaking his crush like thoughts away, made him say the first thing that popped into his mind. "So you're his daughter..." As soon as he said this, Peter mentally scolded himself. Of course she was Tony Stark's daughter! He had already knew that and Mr. Stark had even mentioned her before to him. Why did he have to be a nervous mess right now? Oh, that's right...because he was in the presence of Grace Stark...again.

The awkwardness of that sentence made Grace take on her sarcastic demeanor. Her lips went upwards, offering him the first smile from her since he arrived to the Tower. "Only on Wednesdays. Any other day I'm a homeless girl squatting here."

Peter was not at all expecting that sort of response from her. He had no idea how to answer but the smile she was giving him made the swirling sensation in his stomach grow more.

"Excuse my daughter." Tony apologized on behalf of his daughter. Except he didn't sound angry or disappointed. He was smiling. "The sarcasm is strong with this one. Partly because of me." He stated proudly to the teen.

"That's okay. I thought it was funny." Peter managed to say. He glanced at Grace again and this time a small smile appeared on his face.

Grace tilted her head slightly as she studied him. He had a nice smile...it was nice and warm-felt like his brown eyes. She quickly pushed away this thought. She shouldn't be thinking that way. He was a boy she didn't know anything about. Well that's not entirely true. She did know something about him. The teen now knew who was Spider-Man. Although now that she knew the identity behind the mask, Grace thought he was more of a Spider-Boy than Spider-Man. Not that she would say that to him. Sure she could be brash at times, but for some odd reason she was getting a feeling that said to not be mean to him. Her sarcastic like ways with jokes was enough and she was already trying her best to not let those jokes get out of hand.

Tony clapped his hands together. "Glad you think so, Underoos. Now even though you guys already somewhat know each other, I still want to do the honors of officially introducing you guys. So here it goes." Tony pointed at the two teenagers. "Peter this my daughter, Grace. Grace this is Peter Parker...or as you now know...Spider-Man."

This time Grace decided to be the one to be polite first. She stepped forward. "It's nice to officially meet you, _Peter_." After saying this, Grace then stuck her hand out towards him.

Peter right away took her hand in his. He made sure to be gentle as he shook it. He right away felt how soft her hand was. "Same here. I-It's nice to finally meet you. I know a lot about you."

Tony had on an amused expression, while Grace had a bemused one. She let go of Peter's hand and that made him realize how crazy he just sounded.

"What I meant was that I know what I've seen on TV and read. Not that I constantly follow your life or anything." Peter rambled out. He meant to sound less anxious and more composed, but the way he sounded was far from what he planned.

Had it been another person, Grace would have thought they were a complete weirdo, but for some reason she didn't find Peter's word blabber to be weird. She actually thought it was kind of endearing. She didn't say anything, but instead gave him a kind smile. Peter saw this and he felt his own lips go upwards again.

Tony however was still laughing at his nervous word ramble. "Learn to breathe." He informed the male teen. "The last thing I need is you fainting on my living floor. I just got new carpet."

Grace softly laughed at her dad's comment. Peter on the other hand was finally able to get a hold of himself. He cleared his throat. "So, Mr. Stark...do you have them?" He asked him.

Grace's memory was brought back to why they were there in the first place. She saw her dad nod his head.

"Sure do, kid." Tony told Peter as he showed him the wrist web-shooters."Check these bad boys out."

Peter's brown eyes widen in astonishment. "Wow..." He said as Tony handed over the web-shooters to him. He lifted his gaze. A smile was on his face. "Thanks for fixing them Mr. Stark."

"Don't thank me yet. You still have to try them out." Tony replied nonchalant.

Peter kept this upbeat attitude. "I know they're gonna work just fine."

"I can attest to that. Besides harming a poor innocent soda can, the web-shooters work fine." Grace said catching Peter's attention. "I made sure that he fixed and put everything accordingly." As she said this she threw a pointed look to her dad, but Tony just responded with a playful eye-roll.

Peter's cheeks once again felt warm. "Thanks." The fear of someone new knowing his secret super-hero identity should have worried him. Except it didn't. Grace knowing his deepest darkest secret wasn't causing him to have any ounce of worry. In a way he was kind of glad she knew who Spider-Man was now. He liked having someone his age, other than is best friend Ned of course, know about it. That way he could talk to them. Well... not that he thought he would actually get to spend some time with her. He didn't even think they would become friends...why would a pretty and famous girl like Grace Stark want to be friends with him?

Grace who had no idea of the inner turmoil Peter was having just nodded her head.

Suddenly Tony snapped his fingers. This caused both teenagers to look at him, confused.

"I forgot something in the lab." He told them. He looked at his daughter. "Keep Underoos company until I return, okay?"

Grace felt an odd twist in her stomach at such thoughts of doing so. She however nodded her head.

"Be right back." Tony informed Peter and then made his way to the elevator.

Once he was gone the two teens just remained standing. Grace was about to say something to Peter when she noticed how he was looking at her. It wasn't in a mean way or anything. He just looked curious...still Grace couldn't take the attention."What are you staring at?" She found herself asking him.

Peter who was in a dream like daze spoke without thinking. "You." He breathed out. After he said that the grip on his web-shooters tighten as his cheeks kept getting redder and redder. "I mean, well you because you're here...?" He didn't mean to make his reply sound like a question but God it did.

Lucky for him, Grace was just as dense as he was when it came to the opposite sex. "Do I have something on my face?" She asked shyly as she put a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

Peter shook his head. "No." _Not unless you count beauty as something._

"Oh...okay. Good." Grace answered relieved. After she said this silence began to fill the air.

Peter did not want that to happen. He wanted to continue talking to her while he was still here. "So." He said trying to figure out something to say to her. A light bulb then went off in his head. "Did you like the sandwich?" He asked her.

Grace furrowed her eyebrows, puzzled. "Huh?"

"You know...the sandwich you bought earlier." Peter reminded her as he was putting his web-shooters inside the backpack he was carrying. Once they were inside, he looked at Grace again. This time a smile was growing on his face. "They're the best in Queens."

"Oh, yeah. I did." Grace said nodding her head. "They were good. My dad thought so too. Guess _Yelp_ was right."

"You use _Yelp_ too?!" Peter exclaimed in excitement.

Grace gave him a smile. "Uh, yeah. I think everyone else pretty much does too."

Peter scolded himself for being so ridiculous. "No, I know that. It's just...well...never mind." He stuttered, sheepish.

Grace fought the urge to giggle. She was beginning to realize how much of a odd ball Peter Parker was. She however had no problem with that. A question from before suddenly entered her mind. "Can I ask you something?" She asked Peter.

Peter right away nodded his head. "Yeah sure."

Grace tilted her head. "Why were you hiding behind my dad's couch?"

Peter's cheeks warmed up like crazy. He right then and there wanted to sink through the nice looking floor.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** _Here's a brand new chapter! Enjoy! Also awkward Peter Parker is the best. He's such a precious cinnamon roll._

* * *

 _ **Chapter 5: No hablas**_ ** _español_** _ **?**_

 _Oh my God...what do I tell her?_

Peter nervously thought to himself.

 _I can't tell her the truth about how I got suddenly nervous and decided to foolishly hide behind her dad's couch when I heard the elevator door open._ _That would be such a lame answer._

Peter saw how Grace was silently waiting for an answer and out of panic he blurted the first thing that came to his fifteen year old mind.

"I was inspecting the carpet!" He randomly blurted out.

Grace scrunched up her face in vast dubiety. "You were inspecting the carpet? Why?'

Peter shifted his weight from on foot to another. "Because of how nice it looked..."

"And you had to do that behind the couch?" Grace asked him.

Peter's heart sped up as he continued on with his lie. "Um, yeah?" He let out a laugh as that would make him sound more believable. "That's the best place to do so." He lamely answered her. God, he was an idiot...

Grace was silent for a few seconds. Her mind was trying to process what he had just told her. It had been so random. That couldn't be the reason why, could it? She wanted to keep on questioning him, but she could clearly see how skittish this topic of conversation was making him. So she decided not to. She nodded her head accepting his weird answer. "Ah, okay...but you might want to work on that a little if you don't want my dad to hassle you." She said trying to warn him. She might have taken his answer, but God knows her dad wouldn't.

Peter nodded his head. "Thanks, but I'll be alright."

"Si como no." Grace muttered.

Peter right away understood what she said. He would have said something regarding the comment, but he was too busy staring at in amazement. "You know Spanish?" He had liked the way she had sounded when speaking the language.

"Yeah, I'm fluent." Grace answered as if it were no big deal, because to her it wasn't. Not really anyways.

Peter however thought differently. "That's so cool!"

Grace liked the compliment, but remained bashful. "Not really. My mom was from Durango, Mexico. So it was only natural for me to learn Spanish too." It caught her off guard how she was actually talking about her mom with someone she had just met. She had never been comfortable enough to talk about her mom so freely unless it had been with her dad or someone close to her like Pepper. Her mom had always been a sensitive topic for her. Even now at the age of fifteen. She cleared her throat, deciding to move the conversation along. "So do you know Spanish?" She distractedly asked him.

Peter struggled with his answer. He became quiet for a few seconds before sticking to an answer. "Not really." Which was a flat out lie. He was actually taking Spanish at school. He understood Spanish very well and was able speak it too, but with the way Grace had asked that question something within him told him to not tell the truth. He felt bad for lying but at the moment, it was beyond his control. Or at least that's what he told himself. It payed off when he saw the soft expression of on Grace's face. That lovely expression though just made him blurt out another sentence that would feed to his lie. "I would like to learn though."

"Really?" Grace asked, curious.

Peter eagerly nodded his head. Once again he began to ramble on. "Yeah, learning a second language is very important. Especially when it comes to looking for a career. It opens more opportunities and better chances."

Grace found his word rambling to be adorable. "You know a simple yes would have been enough for an answer."

Peter grew sheepish. "Uh, right."

Grace was left in thought. "You know if you want I could―"

Peter was left in great anticipation on what she was about to say to him. All thanks to the elevators doors opening. He inwardly huffed but composed himself when he saw Mr. Stark come out of the elevator.

Tony gave the teens a winning smile. "Control your tears kiddos, I'm here again."

Grace playfully rolled her eyes at her dad's comment, while Peter remained quiet. Tony right away took a notice of this. "What's wrong kid? You look like someone stepped on your lunch."

Peter quickly fixed his expression. He offered Mr. Stark a small smile. "Nothing's wrong."

"Alright." Tony said taking his answer. "Here." He warned him before throwing the item he had in his hands.

Peter graciously caught said item. His eyes widen when he saw what it was. "A cellphone? Why―"

"You said you broke your old one. So use this one until your able to get a new one yourself." Tony simply explained to him. "And don't worry it's already paid for."

Peter was about to respond back, but Grace spoke up.

"How'd you break your cellphone?" She asked.

"I dropped it while I was swinging around." Peter bashfully answered her.

Grace laughed a little. "You had your phone with you while you were doing your Spider-Man business?"

Peter blushed when he heard her call him Spider-Man. Just like the way when she spoke Spanish, he liked the way she sounded when she called him by his superhero name. "I was trying to record. I like to vlog my outings sometimes."

"You vlog while you're Spider-Man?" Grace questioned. She sounded completely baffled by this.

Peter nodded his head. "Yeah, but don't worry. I don't let anyone else who doesn't know who I am see them."

"That's right." Tony inputted quite firmly. He gave Peter a pointed look. "Just be careful. I don't want to have take away your video diary privileges now."

Peter was beyond embarrassed. "They're not video diaries!" He blurted out his voice cracking a bit. Actually they were video diaries, but he didn't like how Mr. Stark had said that in front of Grace It made him seem less manly. It was then that he realized what his voice did. He cleared his voice, making it sound more gruff. "They're called vlogs." He corrected.

Grace was fighting the smile that wanted to appear on her face. Tony on the other hand had no problem showing his amusement. "Yeah, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, kid."

Peter could clearly see how Grace was fighting the urge to smile. He was glad that at least she had the decency to spare him more embarrassment. Even though he had just met her, he could already tell she was way more collected than her dad. He wondered if she perhaps got that from her mom...

 _"Sir, you have an important business call on line one. Would you like me to connect you to it now?"_ Came Friday's voice, thankfully interrupting Peter's embarrassing moment.

Tony opened his mouth to push the call away, but he faltered when he saw the pointed look his daughter was throwing him.

" _Dad_." Grace stressed out. "Take the call. Don't be procrastinating your work."

"But procrastinating is what I do best." Tony retorted facetiously. When he saw how his daughter wasn't lowering her seriousness, he relented. "Alright, alright." He huffed. "Friday, connect me right away." He took out his own cellphone, but before answering it he glanced at his daughter. "Happy now?"

Grace smiled. "Ecstatic. Have fun."

Tony playfully rolled his eyes. He then gazed at Peter. "It was nice seeing you Underoos, come again soon. Well, not too soon. I have a life you know." he quipped to the teenager. "Now if you excuse apparently I need to take this important business call." He looked back at his daughter. "Grace, I trust you won't leave the kid astray."

"I make make no promises that he won't be harmed as he leaves the residence." Grace commented with a smile.

Peter was bemused by how they interacted with each other. It was like they were in their own little world.

Tony looked at his daughter proudly. "Atta girl." He then patted her shoulder before he walked towards the elevator again. The last thing the teens heard was him giving a flamboyant hello before the elevator doors closed.

"Sorry about that." Grace apologized once she saw the expression Peter had on. "Me and my dad sometimes tend to get into our conversations. I have to remind myself not everyone is going to understand our sense of humor."

Peter shook his head, reassuring her. "Nah, it's okay. I think it's pretty cool how you two are so comfortable with each other."

Grace smiled. "Thanks, not many people think so. I think it's because they can't handle my dad's sense of humor so when I'm involved they just lose whatever patience they have left."

"I can understand that." Peter answered quickly. His eyes then widen. "Not that I find Mr. Stark annoying, or you! It's just―"

"Relax." Grace interrupted laughing. "I know you don't. Although I'd be totally fine if you were. My dad can get annoying...trust me I should know."

"You seem to have a handle of things." Peter said referring to how she got her dad to take the business call.

Thankfully Grace understood what he meant. "I have somewhat of an influence on him. Surprisingly." She joked. "It's kind of funny, he sometimes like to poke fun at how I'm the adult and he's the child. He says I'm a thirty year old stuck in a fifteen year old body."

"Well you look nowhere near thirty." Peter said and then blushed. "Obviously."

Grace felt an unusual feeling in her stomach. She however chose to ignore it. "Uh, thanks." She then got a hold of herself. "Anyways, if you're ready to leave all you have to do is tell Friday you want to go to back to the lobby once you're in the elevator. Simple as that. Or if you're feeling pretty wild you can push the lobby button yourself."

"Yeah, okay." Peter mumbled and then began making his way towards the elevator. Before he stepped in though he turned to look at Grace. His cheeks were scarlet red as he spoke. "Just out of curiosity, what were you going to ask me before your dad interrupted?" He knew it was probably annoying that he was pestering with this question, but his mind kept replaying the scene of her getting interrupted by her dad over and over again.

Grace quickly shook her head. "It's nothing."

"What is it?" Peter attentively asked. He really wanted to know.

Grace huffed. "It's silly really...but I was going to ask if you perhaps wanted Spanish lessons from me? You said you wanted to know and I am fluent." She stopped talking when she saw the opened mouth expression Peter had. She felt like hiding under a rock now. "Never mind, I knew it was a silly idea."

Peter was quick to shut his surprised mouth. "I don't think it's a silly idea!" He assured her. "I think it's a great suggestion actually...would you really offer me lessons?" He asked sounding hopeful.

"If I wasn't being serious I wouldn't have offered." Grace told him, her voice then took a fake tone of seriousness. "One never fools around when offering to teach a second language, Mr. Parker."

Peter felt his heart skip a beat. "A-Alright, I accept."

Grace smiled, her voice returning to normal. "Coolio." She said happily. Her eyes then landed on his cellphone. "Let me see your phone." She was slightly caught off guard by how quickly he gave it to her. It was quite comical. Pushing her away her urge to laugh, she hurriedly put in her own number into his contacts. After she was done she handed it back to him. "Okay, my number is in there. So text me when you want to set up a time to start your first lesson."

Peter was glancing between his new cellphone and Grace in awe. Was this actually happening? Had Grace Stark really given him her cellphone number? Was this real life? He inwardly shook his head. Of course it was real life! Yeah he lied...but the guilt couldn't surpass the excitement he had for the time he was going to soon spend with Grace. He released a happy smile. "Great! I'll text you soon then!"

"Okie dokie." Grace said as he got into the elevator. She gave him a wave. "See ya, later."

"Yeah, you bet!" Peter excitedly told her as he returned the wave. It wasn't until the elevator doors finally closed between them that he let out a loud woo and started doing dancing in joy. And he did this all while holding and looking at his new cellphone in complete wonder.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** _Hi is anyone still out there? xD This is a long over due chapter, and I'm sorry for delaying it. I've just been focusing more on my **IT** and **Hemlock Grove** fanfic. I however wanted to update this story because I want to show you guys it's still ongoing. :) Also, since this is a **AU** story taking place after **Spider-Man: Homecoming** , Aunt May already knows about Peter being Spider-Man. It just makes it easier for me to write about and allows the story to flow better. Also I saw the new **Thor** movie and it was amazing! The effects and the soundtrack was great! Anyways, enjoy!_

 _ **P.S.** I don't any of the music that is mentioned in this chapter. Although I recommend for you guys to listen to **Make Me A Bird by Elektrik People** when reading this chapter. It really is a awesome song. xD_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 6: Do you like her?**_

It was about an hour later, when Tony finally finished that boring business call of his, that he found his daughter. She was in her room, laying in her bed, reading away at her book. The look of concentration she had on had him furrowing his eyebrows, but even more when he saw the title of the book she was thoroughly engrossed with.

 _"IT?"_ Tony questioned out-loud making Grace look up towards him. "Really, sweetie? You're just asking for nightmares now."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Cool your jets, dad. I'm already on the fourth chapter and I haven't been scared at all." _But I have been severely creeped out._

"Hmm, sure." Tony hummed unconvinced.

"So, how was your call?" Grace asked wanting to move the conversation away from her being somewhat afraid of her new book.

Tony huffed childishly. " _Boring_. It was just business talk, ugh."'

"Well, that's what happens when you're Iron Man." Grace nonchalantly said as she turned to the next page. "Lots of business talk."

"Don't remind me." Tony said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't they understand that I have a life too?"

Grace found her dad's behavior funny. She looked up from her book and smiled playfully. "Your life is so hard. However do you manage is beyond me." After she said this her gaze went back down to her book. Rereading the last lines from the bottom of the page.

Tony knew she was being sarcastic with him, but he went along with her humor. "It really is, you know." Despite knowing she was heavily invested with her reading, he still asked his question. "What are you up to now?"

Grace sighed and gazed at her dad again. She was by no means annoyed, she just liked acting as if she was. This was something she would do just to amuse her dad. "Well, I want to finish reading my new book but..." Her voice perked up a bit, dropping the annoyed act. "I have a feeling you want to do something."

Tony grinned. His daughter knew him so well. "Yup. What do you say? You up for watching a movie with your old man?"

Although she really wanted to continue reading _IT_ , Grace was never the one to turn down quality time with her dad. She closed her book before eagerly nodding her head.

"Alright!" Tony exclaimed clapping his hands together. "Now come on. I still have to choose the movie we're gonna watch."

"Oh, no." Grace said making her way towards him. "You picked last time. I get to choose the movie this time."

Tony became strangely serious. "You're right. I guess this time you can—" He however didn't finish his sentence because he had ran out of her bedroom.

Grace huffed throwing her arms out. "Really, dad?!" Not wasting another second she ran out of her room and followed his retreating figure. She wasn't about to re-watch _The Princess Bride_ again _,_ no matter how much she liked it.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when Peter Parker finally made it back to his apartment in Queens. After leaving the Avengers Tower—aka Tony Stark's place—he went on with his usual schedule. Which included him stopping a bike thief, a few other low bust criminals, and helping a sweet elderly lady cross the street. The usual stuff.

As he walked into his apartment (dressed back in his civilian clothes) he was greeted with a relieved looking Aunt May. His aunt was sitting on the living room couch watching some TV show. However, she quickly turned off the TV and made eye contact with him.

"So, how was it today?" She asked her nephew, curious and slightly worried.

Peter could understand his aunt's worry for him. Ever since she had discovered his secret identity of him being Spider-Man her concern for him had tripled. It had been an awkward and straight out _"Are you crazy?!"_ fest when she had learned of his little secret. There had been crying, and yelling, boy had there been yelling. The yelling though had been because of how overwhelmed everything had been for her. May did not approve of him being Spider-Man at first...not at all. It wasn't until they had a serious heart to heart that they came to a middle ground. Peter would continue to be Spider-Man, just as long as he didn't risk his life in _serious_ life-and-death situations. Peter had no trouble agreeing to this because as he had said to Mr. Stark he wanted to help the little guy. Keep his feet on the ground for the time being. That's where he felt like he belonged and where his help was truly needed for now.

"It was the same as yesterday." Peter replied smiling at his aunt. He hung his jacket on the coat rack they had and then readjusted his backpack before making his way over to sit next to her. He then turned to look at her. "The old lady I helped cross the street gave me a churro, so that was nice." He felt his stomach do a flip with what he said next. "I also went to Mr. Stark's place and he gave me my new fixed web-shooters."

"Really?" May inquired. She noticed how out of character quiet her nephew had gotten after saying that to her. She was quick to digger further into this. She took off her glasses. "Anything else happen?"

"I met Grace Stark." Peter happily blurted out. His eyes were full with awe.

May's own eyes widen a bit. "Tony Stark's daughter? _Wow_." Although she had met and talked to Tony Stark, she hadn't had the pleasure of meeting his daughter. May of course knew of Grace Stark. How could she not? Grace was the one and only daughter of Tony Stark. Unlike her father there hadn't been any negative views on Grace, so May had only positive thoughts on the young teen girl.

"I actually had bumped into her at the sandwich shop here." Peter said, continuing his excited rambling. "And then I saw her again when I went to Mr. Stark's."

"She was here in Queens? That must have been quite the first meeting." May said taking in her nephew's overjoyed exterior. Clearly meeting Grace Stark left a great impression on him. "Is she as nice as the media says she is?"

Peter did not hesitate to nod his head. "Oh, she is. She's also very funny...in her own way."

May smiled at how lively he was being. "I'm glad you two got along with each other."

"Me too." Peter said in content. "She even gave me her number." He once again blurted out without thinking.

"To hang out?" May asked tilting her head. She wouldn't mind the two teens hanging out. In her opinion Peter could always use more friends in his life. Not that Ned wasn't a great friend to Peter, he was the best. May just wanted to see her nephew interact more with other people his own age.

"Well...kind of." Peter sheepishly said. He sighed knowing he wouldn't be able to just let this explanation go. "She offered to help me out with my Spanish." He right away saw his Aunt May frown.

"But you're already doing well in your Spanish class."

Peter averted his eyes from his aunt. "I know, but..."

"Peter Benjamin Parker!" May suddenly chided her nephew. "Did you lie to that girl so you can spend time with her?"

Peter's face turned red. "Y-yes." He shakily answered looking like a deer caught in headlights.

May let out a sigh as she ran a hand through her hair. "Peter, lying is never a good way to get the things you want."

His aunt had a point there. However, that voice he had heard before popped into his mind, making the guilt falter a bit for a lame excuse. "I know...it's just...I wanted to hang out with her."

"And you couldn't have just asked her that?" May asked with a puzzled expression.

Peter become quiet and his cheeks were red.

May finally decided to ask the one question that had been lingering in her head since he first mentioned Grace. "Peter..." She said catching his attention. Her eyes twinkled with amusement and curiousness. "Do you like her?"

"Aunt May!" Peter instantly groaned, embarrassed. Why did she have to ask that question?

Despite how bashful he appeared to be, May didn't lower her questionable stance. "Is that a yes?"

Out of chagrin, Peter said the first thing that came to mind. "No!"

May furrowed her eyebrows. "So, you don't like her?"

"Yes!" Peter said without fully thinking again.

"So, you _do_ like her?" May asked trying to fight the smile that wanted to escape her.

"Aunt May!" Peter whined like the teenage boy he was. He closed his eyes and took a few seconds to collect himself. When he opened his eyes again, May saw the soft gleam he had in them. "She's Grace Stark." He said in a low, awed, slightly sad voice.

"And you're Peter Parker." May announced his name as if he were being called for an award. "What's the problem?"

"She's Tony Stark's daughter." Peter whispered even though it was just the two of them. He was acting as if they were out in public and other could hear them.

"And?" May pressed the question onto him. Didn't her nephew see Tony Stark as a sort of role model? Even though May wasn't Tony's greatest fan, she had to admit Tony has led Peter into the right direction on where to go with these abilities he had.

"It's just that..." Peter drawled on, sounding a little bit melancholic. "Even if I did like her, what would be the point? She wouldn't like me back."

May didn't not like that response. "That's a negative way of thinking young man." She retorted back to her nephew. "Listen, Peter, if you like her, then text her and set up that study Spanish session. Simple as that." After she said this, she gave him a parental look. "Although I'm expecting you to come clean to her about that Spanish stuff. It's never good to keep a lie going."

Once she offered this advice to her nephew, May got up from the couch. Peter was quick to catch her attention just as she had made her way into the apartment's hallway.

"What should I text her?" Peter asked completely clueless.

From the hallway, Peter heard his aunt release a laugh, along with her response. "A simple hello would be a start."

"Right! Of course!" Peter replied back to her, and mainly for himself. He hurriedly got his new cellphone own out of jean pocket and scrolled down the screen to find Grace's contact info. He had no problem finding it. He then began writing his text and once rereading it after what felt like the hundredth time, with the feeling of butterflies in his stomach, Peter finally sent the text message.

He leaned back against the couch, keeping his gaze onto his phone, as he anxiously waited for Grace's reply.

* * *

It had been like an entertaining game of tug of war before Grace and Tony were able agree on with which movie they were going to watch. They had settled on the first _Back to the Future_ movie. A true classic.

About an hour and fifty-six minutes later of watching the movie, which included Tony's commentary and Grace throwing popcorn at him, they went their separate ways. Tony went back to his lab and Grace went back to her room. Once in there she right away jumped onto her bed and began reading where she left off in her book. When the afternoon mark hit, Grace took her daily dose of the medication, and then continued reading like it was no big deal. When in reality forgetting to take her medication would have probably resulted in disastrous consequences.

This time as she read her book again, she had music playing in the background. The song, _Make Me A Bird by Elektrik People_ filled her room. She happily listened to the transfixed like lyrics.

 _We got to talking, and she began to compliment me_  
 _Said that she likes the way I sing_  
 _And perhaps she could help me_  
 _But I was caught up, in the pain behind her eyes_

Grace for one was glad she was able to discover this unique band. And it was all thanks to the TV show _Hemlock Grove._ A show she liked and it was only a plus that her celebrity crush _Bill Skarsgård_ was in it. His presence in the show made it more enjoyable to watch.

Just as she was reading a good (scary) part in the book, her cellphone chimed. Grace slowly averted her eyes from her book before she lazily reached to her night stand to grab her cellphone.

As soon as she saw _who_ had texted her a feeling of foreign giddiness enveloped her. Any lackadaisical feelings she had went away and her eyes gleamed with delight.

 _Hey Grace! It's me Peter._

Grace couldn't help the smile that escaped her from just that one simple text message. She immediately began texting back, completely forgetting about the music that was still playing in her room.

 _She said, make me a bird, I'll fly away_  
 _Beyond the confines of the sick, sick game_  
 _I said, make me a bird, and I'll fly too_  
 _Don't care where, just want to spend some time with you_  
 _A little time with you_

With her hands slightly shaking a bit with excitement, Grace sent the text message.

Now it was her turn to wait for his reply.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** _Hey guys! I am so sorry for such a long waited update. I'll admit I had writers block for this story, and I needed a break to plan out things. Plus at the moment I am trying to focus more on finishing my other story, Floating On Air. Which hopefully (for those who read it ) I will be able to update the next chapter soon._ _I hope there's still people out there willing to give this story a chance._ _I have a lot more to add to the plot._

 _I've also_ _noticed that a few of you have been asking what's wrong with Grace since she takes medication. And although I won't tell you guys yet what's wrong with her, rest assured you guys will know what Grace has later on. It's actually a pretty sad and in my opinion not enough talked about disorder._

 _Anyways_ _, moving on to less serious matter, I put in a little Deadpool Easter egg in this chapter. Let's see if you guys can find it. Also I've been debating if I should bring in the Merc with a Mouth in this story. Even if it's just for a short cameo later on. I can just imagine how he'd act with Grace and Peter. I mean we all know by now that Grace has a sense of humor, so I can see her handling Deadpool's personality really well (I mean look at how she's with Tony xD) but Peter? I think he'd be seriously bemused my him. (:_

 _ **P.S.** I do not own the songs and bands mentioned in this chapter! I'm sure most of you guys will right away recognize them. (:_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 7: He says, She says**_

It had now almost been an hour later since the text conversation between Peter and Grace had ended. Despite the texting being over the Stark girl was still happily scrolling through her messages.

Texting was something Grace liked doing. Yes, it was a total cliche teen thing but she was fifteen years old. What teen her age didn't like texting, even at least a little bit? However there was a bigger reason why she took great joy in texting. The reason being was that she _hardly_ ever texted. After all she didn't really have a lot of people she could text in a friendly like manner. Well, she did have her dad's, Pepper's, and a few of the other Avengers' cellphone numbers, but it wasn't the same. Besides Grace wasn't going to waste their time by texting them. They had far more important things to focus on than to engage in a text conversation and exchange emojis with a fifteen year old girl. So when she was presented with a chance to _actually_ text someone outside her usual social group, she gladly participated.

And although Grace didn't have the mad technological skills her dad had that didn't mean she disliked technology, because on the contrary she quite liked it. She particularly liked using her cellphone and laptop. Just like with Grace's laptop, the small touch screen cellphone she owned was basically her whole life. It had her photos, videos, all of her personal information on there. Not to mention all of the games she's downloaded. _Pokémon Go_ being the one she still used the most. Which made sense since she was a huge _Pokémon_ fan in general. Now before her addiction to _Pokémon Go_ her number one game had been _Candy Crush._ Thank goodness that had been only a phase.

So as one can understand technology (much like with her father) was in a way like her best friend. Actually now that she thought about it better technology was her only _true_ friend. It wasn't like she had others her age to fill in that spot of missing friends. Well maybe Peter...but Grace didn't feel totally secure with that thought considering she had just met him. Besides she had been wrong before on first impressions. The last thing she wanted was to befriend someone who would later on hurt her feelings. S _everely_. Having that happen to her once was all she could handle. The betrayal and humiliation she felt that _horrid_ time was something she never wanted to feel again.

Except despite her wariness of welcoming new people into her life (or more specifically people her own age) there was _something about Peter Parker—_ the boy with the warm brown eyes—that made her emotional shield lower down. Perhaps it was his boyish looks, or the way he acted so bashful and awkward around her that made Grace less guarded than usual. It was an awkwardness that Grace had been able to easily detect such from his texting. A overall texting conversation that Grace was now gazing down at her cellphone with a smile.

 _Hey Grace! It's me Peter._

 ** _Hiya Peter. How's it going?_**

 _It's going okay! Just chilling at my place. I mean apartment. Hehe, so yeah. I'm relaxing. So, how are you?_

 ** _I'm fine. Thanks for asking. Anyways, I'm assuming you're texting me because you want to set up a time to start those Spanish lessons? Correct?_**

 _Yes! I would like to schedule that._

 ** _Okay cool._ **

_Coolio._

 ** _So?_**

 _Yeah?_

 ** _When do you want to start?_**

 _Oh yeah! Is an answer that's soon okay?_

 ** _Hmm, well how soon is now?_**

 _How does tomorrow sound? Also side note, isn't how soon is now a Smith's song?_

 ** _Haha why yes it is. Nice catch there, Spider-Boy. I was testing you. Gotta make sure you know your music. But yeah tomorrow is okay with me. What time?_**

 _Seeing as we are coming to an agreement for tomorrow I'll take that name slip. Does 3 o'clock work fine with you?_

 _ **That works for me. Where did you want to meet up?**_

 _Honestly anywhere's fine with me. You choose._

 ** _You want me to chose? You sure about that._**

 _Haha yeah. Like I said anywhere would be fine._

 ** _So then we can meet up by the street corner from where I live and huddle behind the trashcans and you'd be totally okay with that?_**

 _Well it's not the most sanitary place to study, but if that's where you want to study..._

 ** _I'm just pulling your chain Peter. We can meet up at your place._**

 _My place? Okay! That's awesome._

 ** _Hehe, awesome. Sure. Anyways, tomorrow at 3!_**

 _I can't wait!_

 _... ... ..._

 _You know because I'm so excited to learn Spanish!_

 _ **Alright, well be prepared to bring that enthusiasm you have tomorrow. See-ya, Peter. (:**_

After that text messages Peter had sent his own _"see you later"_ text along with his address. And it was one that also contained a smiley face. Grace couldn't help but laugh when re-reading the whole conversation again. The fifteen year old had to admit Peter's bashfulness, even when not verbal, was still a cute thing.

Grace's attention averted from the text conversation when she heard a knock on her door. The teen quickly put her phone down on her bed. "Enter if you dare!" She jokingly announced as she aimed her gaze forward.

Soon after saying that Pepper walked inside her room. The red head had on an amused look. "Your dad's hunger won him over... _again_." She informed Grace. "So we're gonna order pizza. Do you want another separate small box order to go along with it?"

Grace's eyes lit up. She heard and felt her stomach rumble right away at the mention of pizza. _Yum_. Whenever they ordered pizza, Grace at times (when she was especially craving it) would get a extra small side order of her all time fave pizza. This was because her dad and Pepper weren't huge fans of the type of pizza she would order. It was one of the few things she and her dad had to disagree on regarding food taste. Her dad preferred the classic order of pepperoni or cheese. Her on the other hand...well she was a tad bit quirky when it came to her pizza order. Grace liked to assume that perhaps her mother had liked the same kind of pizza. It was nice to think so.

Her facial features brighten as she spoke. "For sure. Can you get me a order of—"

"Pineapple and black olive." Pepper interrupted swiftly. Her lips were curling upwards.

Grace nodded her head, pleased. "Yeah and also can you please make sure the crust is—"

"Burnt?" Pepper added swiftly once more. "Don't worry I know how much you _love_ burnt crust." Her own facial features took on a bemused expression. "Although I have no idea why you hold that order so high."

Grace smiled innocently. "Because it's sweet and salty. Like me." She tried keeping that squeaky clean act for as long as possible before she broke down laughing. "Nah, I just like it because it's delicious."

"And you think burnt crust is delicious?" Pepper questioned, seriously puzzled.

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it." Grace replied in a faux earnest tone. Pineapple and black olive pizza with just the perfect amount of brunt crust was appetizing to even look at.

Pepper just found her behavior amusing—as always. She let out a melodious laugh. "I'll just let you know when the order's here." She informed the teen as she started making her way out.

"Thank you!" Grace called out. Pepper threw her a quick glance smile over her shoulder before she exited her bedroom.

Once Grace was alone she grabbed her cellphone. Unlocking her screen she looked down at her messages again. This time an idea suddenly popped into her head and she surprisingly went along with it. With her lips curling upwards again she mischievously changed Peter's name from her contact list.

It was now as Spider-Boy.

Grace had long forgotten about the music that was still playing in the background, but her attention was soon gained once she heard the song _Time to Pretend_ by _MGMT._ Her smile as well as her eyes soften.

Somehow the song seemed fitting for the moment.

* * *

 **...The Next Day...**

Peter Parker had been feeling array of emotions. All throughout his early daily routine patrol. Excitement being the most pronounced followed by nervousness. And why wouldn't those two emotions be the most powerful ones? He had a perfectly good reason as to why his heart was beating like crazy. He was supposed to be seeing Grace again today, and at his apartment of all places.

When he told his Aunt May about this meet up of theirs she had been happy for him. Of course what followed soon after was the same lecture of how he'd have to come clean about the whole truth of him knowing Spanish already. Which Peter knew he was going to tell Grace. He was just going to work up to it...slowly. He knew coming clean straight away was the right thing to do but he just really wanted to spend time with Grace. Have time to get to know her. The real Grace Stark and not just the fantasized version he saw within the media. Plus he wanted her to get to know the real him. Peter Parker. The person behind the mask.

That day Peter woke up extra early to make up for the hours he was going to miss by spending time with Grace. He went out did his Spider-Man thing, and when it was two PM he went behind an alley and changed back to his regular clothes. By some miracle his backpack had still been where he had hidden it. His Aunt May would certainly be happy to hear about that. He lost count of how many he's had to politely ask her to buy him a new backpack. He supposed the number count was now well into the double digits.

Anyways since Peter had his backpack he had no issues running to Delmar's sandwich shop. The very same one he had the luck of bumping into Grace. He had no idea what she got the last time she ordered. So Peter decided on getting the number one special. Even though he much preferred the number five special. The number one special was honestly the safe choice. Plus he's had that special and in his opinion it was great. He had no idea if Grace liked mustard or mayo, so he instead grabbed small packets of the condiments.

Once the order was ready Peter rushed back to his apartment. It was almost close to three by now and he still needed to make sure everything back at his place was clean. Not to mention he needed to make himself presentable. He probably looked disarrayed from all that running he had done to reach his place. Listening to his iPod as he walked into his apartment building somewhat calmed him down a little bit.

When Peter finally did enter inside the apartment, he was in such a rush that he didn't do his usual hello call to his Aunt May. Instead Peter put the sandwiches on the kitchen table. He then while still listening to his iPod walked into his room. His head had been down looking and scrolling down his music playlist that he failed to see he had a visitor. It wasn't until Peter dropped his backpack to the floor and looked away from his iPod that he finally noticed.

He was more than surprised by what he saw. His best friend patiently sitting on his bed playing with the LEGO version of the Death Star. He quickly took out his earbuds. "Ned?!" The young teen cringed on the inside once he heard his voice crack from the sudden shock. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he tried regaining his outer composure and his voice. Now that he was calming down, Peter got a major case of Deja Vu. This encounter reminded Peter of how both Ned and his Aunt May found out about his secret identity. Yeah...he really needed to work on keeping a close eye on his surroundings better. At least this time Ned didn't drop the Death Star. That thing took forever to build.

Ned in return looked just as confused as he did. He carefully set aside the Death Star before walking over to him. "Dude your Aunt May let me in before she left. She was in a hurry but said she had to do some errands." He tilted his head slightly. "What's with the shocked face? I thought we were supposed to hang out today? Have that _Star Wars_ marathon we've been talking about." His face brighten up as he straighten his posture. "I brought all of them." He told his best friend as he gestured to a bag that was next to him. "I even have _The Force Awakens_ on Blu-Ray."

 _Oh crap he was right._ Peter and him had agreed to hang out today. Except that was last week and since then there had been a change of plans. He felt bad for forgetting but why hadn't Ned called or even texted to remind him? Better yet why hadn't Aunt May let him know before hand that Ned was here? Peter let out a sigh, apologetic. "Man, I'm sorry. I totally forgot we had plans to hang out today."

Ned shrugged his shoulders. This didn't really bother him. This was after all something that was planned last week and it had been a last minute thing. "Figures, I've been trying to text and call you all day but you didn't answer."

Peter quirked an eyebrow. "You have?" He hadn't heard his cellphone ring or chime.

Ned nodded his head. "Yup."

Peter set aside his iPod and took out his cellphone. He immediately mentally face palmed himself once he realized that his cellphone had been on silent mode this whole time. "Crap." He said making a face mirroring how idiotic he was feeling inside. "I had it on silent mode this whole time without me knowing." He really should have noticed this issue yesterday when texting Grace but the whole excitement of actually texting her made him unaware.

"How'd that happen?" Ned asked. However his first question was long forgotten once he saw Peter's cellphone. "Wait a minute is that a new cellphone?"

Peter nodded his head, slightly bashful. "Yeah, Mr. Stark gave it to me yesterday."

"That's awesome!" Ned exclaimed. "It's an upgrade from your last one."

"It sure is. I'm still trying to get used to it though. As you can see." Peter replied as he began scrolling down the missed calls and unread text messages he had. None had been from Grace. So at least he was glad to know she hadn't called or texted to cancel on him at the last minute. He did have a few messages and missed calls from Ned. He also had two missed calls from his aunt May and one of the text message from her It read:

 _ **Peter, I had**_ _ **to run out to do some errands. Should be back soon.**_ _ **Ned's here. Said you two were going to hang out to watch some movies. I**_ _ **know you most likely forgot you had plans with him because of your meet up with Grace. So...figure this one out champ. Anyways, tootles!**_

Well that was rather whimsical for his Aunt May to say. But she was right. He needed to figure this out. Peter looked at Ned with apologetic eyes. "Ned, I'm sorry but I have to cancel our plans for today." When he saw how crestfallen his best friend had gotten he awkwardly continued speaking." It's just that I have someone coming over. It was a last minute invite. I should have called you, but I was just in such a hurry to get here on time."

Although bummed that their _Star Wars_ movie day was canceled Ned was curious to know just who was coming over. "That's okay. But who's coming over?"

Peter's cheeks reddened. He lowered his eyes towards the ground. "Grace." He mumbled sheepishly.

Ned heard him perfectly well. His eyebrows furrowed and a puzzled expression appeared on his face. "Grace?" He didn't know anyone with the name of Grace, not personally anyways, and as far as he knows neither did Peter.

A few seconds passed before Peter was able to get a hold of himself. He lifted his gaze to look at his best friend. "Grace Stark." Peter established feeling his stomach do a flip at the mention of Grace's full name.

Right after Peter told Ned this his dark eyes widen in disbelief. "The _Grace Stark?"_ He said in wonder. "The very same Grace Stark that you have a huge crush on is coming over to your apartment?" He continued to speak in utter awe. "Wow, that's...what exactly can I say about that except for _wow_."

"Well there's only one Grace Stark." Peter said lowly. The warmth on his face then intensified once he took in the rest of what Ned said. "And I don't have that huge of a crush on her."

Ned laughed a little at his denial. "Dude, yes you do. Your crush on Grace Stark is almost as bad as the one you had on Liz Allan. Actually no...I think this one might be even worse."

Peter sighed. "Can we please just not talk about that?" He begged his friend. He didn't want to talk about his old crush. It was still a bit of a sting for him.

Ned nodded his head. "Right sorry. I won't mention anything relating to your old crush."

Peter looked thankful. "Thank you."

A sly smile then appeared on Ned's face. "We'll just talk about the lovely dovey crush you have on Grace Stark instead."

" _Ned_!" Peter huffed.

Ned laughed. "I'm joking. Kind of." After this he somewhat grew serious. "You must be real excited and nervous about her coming over. I mean, how'd you pull that off? You never even met her before."

"I bumped into her at the sandwich shop here in Queens yesterday." Peter explained to his best friend.

"For reals? Dang, what are the chances of that, huh?" Ned's eyes widen a bit as realization popped into his head. "She was at the sandwich shop here in Queens? Oh my God, do you know what that means?"

Peter had no idea where he was going with this. "What?"

Ned's smile became one of pure excitement. "It means Grace Stark has ordered food from a place we've both been to before! How cool is that?"

Seeing his best friend so excited like that for the smallest thing made Peter smile "The coolest." He answered back.

"What time is she supposed to get here?" Ned asked him.

"At three o'clock." Peter glanced at his watch. According to his watch there was still five minutes till said time.

Ned took notice at the time as well. " Oh dang, I guess I should be on my way then." He said as walked back to grab his bag that had all his _Star War_ movies.

Peter gave him sincere eyes. "I really am sorry, Ned. We can have a movie day next Sunday." He apologized again to his best friend as he hurriedly as he guided him over to the front door. "It's just that I don't want her to think that I invited people over just because she's here. I don't want her to assume that I— _oh_." Peter immediately stopped talking once he opened his front door. Both him and Ned froze from surprise. Why? Well because there standing outside the front door looking as pretty as the last time Peter saw her was Grace Stark.

"Um, hey." Grace said with soft bemused voice.

Ned continued to stare at said Stark girl with a shocked look. Whereas Peter's expression had now taken a starry eyed turn. The ability to speak was nowhere to be found.

Grace hugged the books she brought over closer to her. She let out a low sigh. It appears that she once again she found herself in a awkward situation.

Fantastic.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** _I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Ned is an awesome character and having him interact with Grace was a joy to write, especially since he knows about the crush Peter has on her. ^.^ Also, I like this chapter because we get to know more about Grace regarding her sexual and romantic orientation. Which in my opinion is pretty important to know because it ties back to the incident that happened to her. Which is one of the other reasons she finds it difficult to make friends despite wanting them. BTW just a little FYI for future chapters Grace's family from her mom's side will be mentioned later on as well. Or more specifically one particular family member will be important for the development of the story._ _Also, I've been watching the show Alexa & Katie on Netflix and I actually ended up loving it. If you guys haven't seen it and have Netflix then you guys should check it out. The character of Alexa in a way reminds me of Grace. _

_**P.S.** If any of you watch Shane Dawson on YouTube (like me) I'm happy to let you know he is mentioned in this chapter. :)_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 8: Celebrity crushes**_

Being openly stared at by people was something Grace Stark should have been used to by now. Except the fifteen year old hadn't...not really. As she knows now getting used to the public's constant attention was a lot easier said than done. Sure sometime she handled the spotlight just fine, other times not so well. Despite this current awkward situation Grace was in, she had to tell herself it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be in her head. Especially when compared to the many other scenarios Gwen had to endure regarding the public's eye. It was this realization that washed away any awkwardness that showed on her face.

Grace disregarded the looks Peter and the boy standing next to him had on. The fifteen year old had no idea who the other boy was. He was unfamiliar to Grace. The boy was heavy-set and he appeared to be from Filipino descent. However, neither the boy's weight or his ethnicity caused any judgmental thoughts to cross her mind. Grace was more in tune with continuing the conversation...or should she say _start_ the conversation. So seeing as neither of them were going to talk anytime soon, Grace decided to take action. "Hello." She spoke again as she moved her right shoulder to readjust her backpack. The books she had still clung close to her. This time what was different was her voice. It sounded less nonplussed and more firm.

Despite it being more resolute, to a certain brown eyed boy her voice still sounded soft and sweet. Hearing her speak again is what finally got Peter out of his starry-eyed daze. He blinked a few times before he moved to open the door further for her. "Hey Grace. Uh, sorry, please come in." He hurriedly said moving to the side to make room for her to enter.

Ned followed his best friend's actions. Although he managed to gain his composure, Ned was still astonished that he was actually in the presence of Grace Stark. He's lost count of the amount of time he has heard Peter talk about her...and now here she was. It just seemed unreal. Except she really was here, and the longer he stared at her the more real this was becoming to him.

Grace let a smile appear on her face as she walked inside Peter's apartment. "Thanks." She replied, grateful for the verbal invitation. The smile she had on faltered when she turned around to face Peter and the other boy. Although they weren't as with their staring as before, there was still a sense of discomfiture in the air. "So..." She trailed off as she looked from Peter to the unfamiliar boy standing next to him. Hoping that at least one of them would notice what she was hinting at. She was really curious to know who he was.

It took a few more seconds but Peter understood what she was going at. "Oh, this is my best friend, Ned Leeds." He thankfully said without stuttering out his words. It made him nervous to introduce Ned to Grace. First, because he didn't want Grace to think that he was inviting people over just because she was here. Based on when he met her he had a feeling that she wasn't one for unexpected attention. And although Ned wasn't supposed to be here, the fact was that he was. Which lead to the second reason he was nerves. What if Grace disliked Ned? Peter hoped that she didn't. Ned was his best friend. And as much as Peter liked Grace he would never cut ties with his best friend. They've been through a lot together. Ned meant a lot to Peter.

Grace's initial puzzlement finally lessened after the introduction. So the boy next to Peter was his best friend. Well, that was nice. Grace didn't know anyone named Ned in her life. Well, other than _Ned Bigby_ from the show _Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide_. She loved that show. A smile soon appeared on her face again. She stuck out one of her arms towards him. "Nice to meet you Ned, I'm–"

Ned gladly took a hold of her hand. "Grace Stark." He said shaking her hand enthusiastically. "I know exactly who you are. Such an honor really."

That last comment made a bashful gleam pass through Grace's eyes. "Right." She replied meekly as she ended the handshake. It was quiet again before she suddenly perked up. "But I'd say it's more of an honor to meet you. As Peter just said you are his best friend." She said remaining affable. Which honestly if she were being honest with herself wasn't that hard. She just met him but being friendly with Ned was not a challenge at all.

Peter let out a low breath of relief as he closed his front door. Any nervousness he had before was slowly started to go away now. It appeared that everything between Grace and Ned was going okay.

Ned on the other hand was taken back from what she said. Not in a bad way though. He was pleasantly surprised. The elation he felt made him lose control of his wording. "Yeah, we're bros." He said excitedly. "We even have a secret handshake and everything. But besides being Peter's best friend, I'm also his guy in the chair."

After he said this, Peter sent Ned a stare. His best friend was too happy that he was having an actual conversation with Grace Stark to even notice. Despite being amazing at keeping Peter's secret about him being Spider-Man, he had no problems bring it up to Grace. Sure Peter didn't necessarily say she knew about his secret identity, but this was Grace Stark after all. Tony Stark's daughter. How could she not know? She had too. And if she didn't...well it was too late to reverse what he said out of excitement. At least Ned had the reassurance that she wouldn't tell anyone. With the amount of information she must have known on the other Avengers, she herself must be good at keeping secrets.

After taking everything Ned had just said, Grace's eyebrows furrowed a bit. "His who in the what?"

"His guy in the chair. You know his go to guy." Ned happily explained to her. "The one behind the scenes helping him out whenever he's Spider-Man."

Suddenly everything he had just said clicked. So he knew about Peter being Spider-Man. Grace averted her gaze onto Peter. Said boy was now fidgeting from where he was standing. "Mr. Stark–I mean, your dad knows that he knows. Ned's the only one that knows, well other than my aunt May." He took a deep breath. "I swear that's everyone. Well...besides you and Mr. Stark, I mean your dad. "

Grace found it fairly amusing how he kept saying Mr. Stark but then changing it to "your dad". Actually she always found it funny when people tried to be professional around her dad. To her Tony Stark was probably the least professional person she had ever met. But that of course was because he was her dad. She treated her dad normally, not at all putting him on a pedestal. Which is something the public tended to do to him and to her. Now despite not knowing Peter for very ling, she had a reason as to why he tended to call her dad Mr. Stark. It wasn't because he was sucking up. No, she knew that Peter had total respect for her dad. Hence the last name calling. So unlike the many others who addressed her dad like that, Grace had no problem with Peter calling her dad Mr. Stark.

Now as this was happening, a different thought popped up into Grace's head. If his aunt knew about him being Spider-Man, why didn't his parents? Actually a better question was...where were his parents? Grace discreetly quickly looked the apartment. After doing so a sad thought hit Grace. Maybe he didn't have his parents in his life anymore. It was a fast assumption and ridiculous one at that since she just looked around the apartment to come up with it. Grace hoped that wasn't true but for some reason she felt like that was the case. She, however, didn't want to ask because it wasn't her business. Plus, she didn't want to make things awkward again by asking a question regarding his family that would most likely cause emotional feelings to surface. She knew by personal experience how much it hurt being asked about her family. Not so much with of her dad's side of the family, but more with her mom's. So she just minded her own business and responded lightheartedly.

"You don't need to explain yourself, Peter. I'm not Mr. Stark, or should I say my dad."

That got a laugh out of Ned. Peter just smiled happy to know that hadn't caused a rift on the growing friendship (well he hoped it was a friendship) that was happening between Grace and him.

"So, what do you have there?" Ned asked gesturing to the books she was holding.

Grace glanced to said books. "Oh, these are Spanish learning books." She said looking at Ned and Peter. "I was able to find some from when I learned Spanish all those years ago. I figured that would be the best way to teach Peter."

Huh? That got Ned to appear muddled. "Teach?" That was rather weird. Why would she teach Peter Spanish? Peter and him were in the same Spanish class and he knew for a fact that Peter was doing very well in that class. In fact he was doing better than him.

Peter could see the questioning expression Ned had on and knew he had to act fast. "Yeah!" Peter added loudly. "That's why she's here because she offered to teach me Spanish. Cause you know...I've been wanting to learn for a while now." On that last sentence he made sure to give Ned a look that would clue him in on what he was _trying_ to say to him. Lucky this time Ned did see him and he understood right away.

"Oh right. I remember now." Ned said nodding his head. "You told me that." Ned then looked at Grace. "He did tell me that."

"But what I forgot to tell him was that you were coming over today. It just, uh, slipped my mind." Peter sheepishly added.

Now maybe it was because of the way she strangely got along right away with Ned, or maybe it was because she liked the friendship aura between Peter and Ned but she really didn't mind having him over. "That's okay with me." Grace replied honestly. Her eyes then lowered in interest having caught sight of something. Now it was Grace's turn to gesture towards Ned. "What do you have there?" She asked when seeing the bag he was holding.

Ned saw exactly what had caught her attention. "I brought over some movies to watch with Peter but–"

"What movies?" Grace asked, intrigued. She loved watching movies, almost as much as she loved to read.

"The whole _Star Wars_ series." Ned said handing over the bag to her. "Here, take a look.

"The whole series?" Grace's eyes widened in delight when she saw the inside of the bag. "Gah, you weren't kidding." She gazed back up at him. "Dude that's awesome."

Both Peter and Ned were greatly surprised by the positive reaction Grace had towards the movie franchise they loved so much. Even though her reaction pretty much clarified her opinion, Peter still needed an actual verbal confirmation. "You like _Star Wars_?" He asked sounding hopeful.

Grace let out a scoff. "Are you kidding me? I love _Star Wars._ Me and my dad watch those movies all the time." And that was the truth. She did love _Star Wars._ It was probably her favorite movie series followed by the _Harry Potter_ series. She was a natural born _Slytherin_. Or at least that's what she told herself anyways.

"Iron Man loves _Star Wars_ too?" Ned spoke, awestruck once again. "Wow." He mouthed.

Grace however was now too busy looking through the various movies to have heard that. "Oh my God. You even have _The Force Awakens_ on Blu-Ray." She stated as she pulled out said movie.

Ned nodded his head proudly. "I sure do."

This time it was Grace who was filled with exhilaration. "Pop that sucker on." She said without clearly thinking. Except could one really blame her? This was _The Force Awakens_...and it was on Blu-Ray! This needed to be watched, and it needed to be watched now.

"But what about those Spanish lessons?" Ned asked. He was unsure on whether to accept watching the movie with her and Peter. After all it was just supposed to be Peter and her. He didn't want to be an intruder...even though he technically already was.

As if being thrown cold water onto her face, Grace settled down. "Oh..." She gazed at Peter expecting him to look disappointed or even mad at her for putting aside their lesson time to watch movies instead. To her surprise though he didn't look the least bit mad or even sad. He kind of in a way looked amused? She wasn't sure but he wasn't frowning or crestfallen, so there was that. "You don't mind if we start those Spanish lessons another day, do you Peter?" Grace asked him. A few seconds passed before she added, "Come on...you have to admit watching _Star Wars_ is a much better option."

As long as she was still there hanging out with him, Peter's feeling were not hurt in the slightest. Besides this helped him avoid the whole "I actually do know Spanish fiasco" for now at least. Plus now he didn't have to feel bad for sending Ned home. His best friend can stay and watch movies with Grace and him. That sat pretty well with him. Peter's lips went upwards forming a smile.

"No, not at all."

Grace happily put the books she brought in her backpack before setting it to the side. "Great! Let's start watching the movie then."

It didn't take long for Peter to direct her to his living room couch. Ned took the seat on the left, while Peter took the seat on the right soon after he put the movie inside his DVD player. It then didn't take long for _The Force Awakens_ to start playing. The three teenagers soon became engrossed by the film's intro. Although Peter had to admit to himself that he was far more compelled with watching Grace light up with excitement just from watching the opening credits.

* * *

It didn't take long for the commentary from the group of teens to start. The three of them had seen the movie so many times by now that none of them were annoyed the other sharing pieces of information or opinions regarding the movie. They were only thirty minutes into the movie, and the scene with the character of _Rey_ meeting _Finn_ for the first time had just happened.

"I like the friendship between _Rey_ and _Finn_." Ned said as he finished the last bite of his sandwich. Grace had been kind enough to cut a piece of her own sandwich to give to him. Peter had offered a piece of his too but Ned had right away accepted Grace's offer first.

"Yeah." Peter agreed with his best friend.

Grace nodded her head. "Same here." She felt a smile start to develop at the scene with _Rey_ and _Finn_ getting on board the Millennium Falcon. She left out a heart felt sigh. _"Daisy Ridley_ is just so pretty." Grace blurted out without thinking. She started to get nervous when both Ned and Peter looked at her. "Don't you guys think? I mean, if I was a guy I'd find her attractive in that way. Celebrity crushes and all." She commented nonchalantly, going in for the save.

It wasn't rare for Grace to get crushes on girls. Her first _real_ crush happened to be on a girl. Although, Grace never liked thinking about _her_ anymore. She was the reason Grace was cautious to get close to anyone romantically. Not that she had to worry about that. Still, even to this day, Grace would get crushes on both guys and girls. Which made sense with her being a natural hyper-romantic. However, those crushes never led to anything serious. They were harmless. Besides, nowadays she mainly got crushes on celebrities, so they really could never lead to anything more. And even if she did get a serious crush on a boy or girl, it would more than likely end disastrously. Since the sad truth was Grace was just as inexperienced with the same sex just as she was with the opposite sex.

Despite getting along well with the both of them, Grace still did not want either Peter or Ned to know about her liking guys and girls. Not even her dad or Pepper knew about that. Although she felt terrible for not telling Pepper, Grace felt even more worse for not telling her dad. She told him _everything_. Except for that little detail. It seemed little to her but she knew it wasn't. Not really. Since at the age of thirteen, on more than one occasion, she almost did tell her dad but she always either got interrupted or she chickened out at the last second. Grace knew she should have been honest with her dad and with the people she loved. This was after all the twenty-first century and people were now more acceptable when it came to sexuality. However, the fear of her dad of all the people she cared for in her life being disappointed and not supportive, stopped her from saying the truth.

"Yeah, she's pretty." Ned said breaking her away from her somber thoughts. He did not at all notice the solemn look that passed her face. Which was because it had passed by fairly quickly. He might have not noticed it but Peter sure had. The brown eyed boy's gaze soften. Grace felt his gaze and she automatically plastered a fake smile on her face. Although he returned the smile the concern he felt didn't go away. Had something upset Grace? If so what?

"What about you, Peter?" Ned's voice made Peter look at him in confusion.

"Huh?" He had no idea what Ned had just asked.

"I asked if you thought _Daisy Ridley_ was pretty?"

Peter glanced at Grace before lowered his eyes. "Yeah but she's not really my type." He admitted before feeling his cheeks go warm.

Ned had to hold in his laughter. He had a feeling he was going to say that.

"What's your type then?" Grace asked, curious. "I mean, celebrity wise anyways." She said keeping her dark eyes on Peter's form. When the brown eyed boy looked towards her again she noticed the expression he had on. It was made out of nerves. She had no idea why at first but then she felt like face palming herself. Of course he would look at her like that. She had just asked who he liked...well celebrity wise. It was still a personal question, so she decided to tell Peter her celebrity crush. Her male celebrity crush. "I have crush on _Bill Skarsgård."_ She said out-loud.

Peter was not expecting to hear that. "W-What?"

"Yeah, I have a crush on him." Grace said putting a smile on her face. "I have since watching him in _Hemlock Grove_."

"Isn't he supposed to be in that new _IT_ movie?" Ned asked getting into the conversation again.

Grace nodded her head. "Yeah. He's playing _Pennywise_."

Ned became speechless for a second there. "Um...well...that's odd."

Grace was not the least bit offended. "Well, I'm an odd girl. You'll come to realize that soon enough."

"I'm not hating or anything." Ned was quick to say. "I've heard of him before and I have to say I'm interested to see his portrayal as _Pennywise_."

Grace was happy that someone seemed as excited as she was about _Bill Skarsgård's_ role of _Pennywise_. "Based on the trailers that are out I know he's gonna be amazing." After she said this she noticed how quiet Peter had gotten. She saw how he had a far away look on his face. This made her frown a little "Peter?" She softly called out.

Peter blinked a few times before he steadily settled his gaze onto her. "Yeah?" He answered trying his best to not sound the least bit affected. Peter knew it was stupid and childish but hearing her talk about her celebrity crush hurt him. He had no idea who this _Bill Skarsgård_ guy was but he for sure was going to do a google search later on just to see what _exactly_ Grace found so intriguing by him.

Grace, although confused and not aware of the jealously Peter was feeling, just continued on with the conversation "What about you? Who's your celebrity crush?"

That got Peter's jealously to go away. He felt the butterflies in his stomach return. "My celebrity crush?" He asked shyly pointing to himself.

Grace nodded her head.

Now at the moment she couldn't see the way Ned was smiling knowingly but Peter could.

"Yeah, Peter who's your celebrity crush?"

Peter swallowed the lump he had in his throat. "Uh..."

"Come on you don't have to be embarrassed." Grace encouraged him. When he just continued to stare at her Grace's next question came out without her thinking it through. "It's a guy, isn't?" She asked sounding so serious.

" _What?!_ " Peter gawked.

Ned laughed. Man his best friend's reaction was priceless. "I can assure you his crush is not a guy."

"Ah, so it is a girl celebrity. Understood." Grace said nodding her head. She gave Peter a smile again. "Although if it were a guy I would have been totally supportive."

That was just so random...but Peter ended up nodding his head. He was coming to slowly find out that Grace Stark was very much different from other girls his age. This however didn't lessen the appeal he had towards her. The butterflies became more stronger as he returned the smile. "Thanks...Grace."

Things after that became quiet again and the three of them continued watching the movie. It wasn't until fifteen minutes later that a question popped into Grace's mind. She probably should have waited until the end to bring it up but for some reason she felt like asking that certain question now.

"Have you been doing those vlogs of yours?" Grace asked looking towards Peter again.

Peter met her gaze and shook his head. "Not that yet."

Grace tilted her head to the side. "How come?"

"He doesn't know how to use his new phone." Ned answered for Peter. He was still paying attention to the movie but he wasn't the least bit annoyed with the new conversation that was happening.

Grace fixed her posture. "You don't know how to use your phone?" She asked him in disbelief.

Peter sighed. "I'm still trying to get the hang of it." He clarified.

Now that she thought about it better she really should have not been surprised. Although used to this type of cellphone, Grace knew for a new person it would be a little bit complicated at first. She decided to help Peter out with his new cellphone. "It's really not that hard to use once you get used to it. Here, I'll show you." She said proceeding to take out her own phone. When she unlocked her home screen Peter saw the YouTube app had been open. His lips quirked when he saw who she had been watching.

 _"Shane Dawson?"_

"Oh yeah." Grace laughed a little as she exited the _YouTube_ app. "I love his videos. Especially his conspiracy theories. Do you watch _Shane Dawson?"_

Peter appeared somewhat sheepish. He knew of _Shane Dawson_ but he never actually had taken the time to watch his videos. "No."

This greatly shocked the Stark girl. Her dark eyes widen. "What? How can you not watch _Shane Dawson?_ I thought you were all about that _YouTube_ life."

Ned once again let out a laugh as Peter felt even more sheepish. Although this time he also felt amused at the way Grace had said 'all about that _YouTube_ life'. That was something else entirely. "I never technically said I was about that _YouTube_ life." He said staring into her dark eyes. The warmth in his cheeks returned as he did so. Her eyes were so nice to stare into. He cleared his throat. "I do watch other _YouTubers_ but I've never gotten around to watching his videos. I'll give them a try."

Graced smiled once more and was about to say something else, but right then and there the front door opened.

"Peter, I'm home!"

Grace's attention went towards the door and she fixed her posture when she saw a older brunette woman with several plastic bags enter the living room.

Peter's and Ned's attention went to May who was now in the living room. She had on a smile as she took in the teenagers who were hanging out in the living room watching what appeared to be a movie on the TV. "Oh, hello." She said focusing more on the Stark girl who was sitting between Ned and her nephew.

Peter saw the way his aunt May looked at Grace. Ned got along well with Grace but how would his Aunt May and Grace get along? His stomach did a nervous flip.

He was about to find out.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 ** _A/N:_** _I am on a role with this story. Mainly because we're getting closer and closer to Avengers: Infinity Wars. My brother and I have already bought are tickets for April 27th. Premiere night! Wohoo! Anyways, speaking of Infinity Wars would you guys be interested in another Avengers fan-fic with Grace Stark? This one would not be completely AU and would follow the past Marvel movies plot-line and it would include Infinity Wars. Let me know what you guys think! And of course it would still be a Grace Stark x Peter Parker pairing. Those precious beans deserve each other. ^.^  
_

 _ **P.S.** A special shout to _**_corahaale_. **_Your review left me feeling happy. I'm glad you're liking Grace's character and her growing relationship with Peter. I also want to smush their faces together. Ned and her are nerds but I mean who doesn't like nerds? :D Also, I'm happy you like how Pepper is basically a mother to her. I would LOVE for Grace and Shuri to meet. That would be beyond amazing! Hopefully later in the story that'll happen as well with Grace finally meeting T'Challa._

* * *

 _ **Chapter 9: Meeting Aunt May**_

Now besides having constant attention from the public (something Grace was iffy about), being Tony Stark's daughter also meant that she met a lot of people. The majority of those said people always happened to be older than her—adults. So Grace by now was used to putting on a polite demeanor when introducing herself and all that gist. Although as she knows now, it's lot easier for her to talk to adults than with people her own age. Which is why she was already inwardly prepared on introducing herself...again.

Grace lowered her cellphone as she continued to focus all of her attention onto the new presence. The teenager knew automatically that the woman who had just entered the apartment was Peter's aunt. The one who like Ned knew about Peter's secret superhero identity. Grace carefully took in the older woman's appearance. She had to admit she was a very pretty woman. She had long brown hair and eyes that were brown as well. She also looked to be around the same age as her dad and Pepper. The woman had on a warm smile but it was the amiable vibe that radiated off of her that made Grace less nervous. The teenager soon found herself easily returning the smile.

Peter and Ned took notice of this. Seeing them smile at one another made Peter relax once again. Once he gained composure once more he noticed the grocery bags his aunt was carrying. Getting up from the couch he went right into his helpful nephew mode. "Let me help you with those bags." He hurriedly said as he made his way towards her.

"I'll help too." Ned added as he too got up from the couch. In reality he knew Peter was more than capable of holding the bags himself, but Ned wanted to give May and Grace a little bit of space as they met one another.

"Thanks guys." May said handing over the bags to her nephew and Ned. Her attention then went back to Grace Stark who was now standing in front of her.

The Stark girl had also gotten up from the couch the same time Ned did. She too was about to offer her help but it appeared that Peter and Ned had it covered. So that just left her standing there...awkwardly waiting to introduce herself. Grace however kept her pleasant demeanor as she continued to converse with Peter's aunt. "Hello." She said sticking out one of her hands. Although the older woman probably knew who she was, Grace still went with properly saying her name to her. "I'm Grace Stark."

Still with a smile on her face, May took in Grace's appearance. She was wearing a band t-shirt of the _Ramones_ and darkish skinny jeans. Her shoes were a pair of black and white converse and they looked well worn. She wasn't wearing any flashy makeup and her hair wasn't styled in a over the top sort of way. It was down in what she assumed was her natural state of waviness. The longer she looked at her the more May came to realize Grace Stark did look like a typical teenage girl. Tomboyish teenage girl to be more specific. Which wasn't that surprising because she had seen how she looked in the media before. Besides her appearance, it seemed like her personality was as nice and polite as portrayed in the media. It now made perfect sense as to why her nephew liked her so much.

Having thought all this, May gladly accepted her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Grace. I'm May. Peter's aunt." Once she ended the handshake she glanced at Peter before focusing on her again. "My nephew has been talking non-stop about you since the run-in you two had." She told her unable to stop the bashful comment that was aimed at her nephew.

It was then when she said this that Peter and Ned went to go stand near them after putting the grocery bags aside. Ned snickered while Peter felt his face warm up. "Oh my God." The brown eyed boy muttered to himself in sheer embarrassment. Luckily for Peter, Grace hadn't heard him.

Grace felt her stomach do a weird flip when she heard May say peter had been talking about her. She was confused as to why though. People talked about her all the time. Her stomach never did any weird flips. Well only when nervous but she wasn't nervous at the moment. She decided to disregard this odd feeling. "I'm flattered that I was a part of your guys conversations. Although God knows there's probably a ton of other things to discuss than boring me." She ended up replying lightheartedly.

May found her humility to be sweet. "Nonsense." She dismissed kindly. "It's nice to hear about you. I know your father on account on Peter being Spider-Man and all, but I always found it odd that you were never brought up whenever we talked." She said slightly bewildered before moving on with the conversation. "Anyways, I'm glad we've officially met."

Grace nodded her head. "Same." She could understand why her dad didn't bring her up when speaking with May or even Peter. Her dad had a tendency to not bring her up when discussing with others about Avenger business. Only when necessary she supposed. Guess it was a way to separate work from home life or something along the lines of that. It didn't work though. Grace was still very much involved with the Avengers. She considered most of them like family.

"So, what are you guys watching?" May asked, this time looking at all three teenagers. She made sure to let her gaze linger onto Peter. The older woman knew that Peter's plans with Grace got interrupted because of her nephew forgetting he already had plans with Ned. Except by the looks of it, it appeared all three of them had managed through that mix-up. Still she wanted to know what exactly was going on, and if Peter had come clean to Grace about already knowing Spanish.

Peter caught onto this and was the one to answer her question. _"Star Wars."_

"Oh, then you guys are already finished with those Spanish lessons?" May questioned, discreetly giving Peter a knowing look.

Peter shifted in place as the guilt he felt before was rising inside him again. His expression on his face was all May needed to see to get an answer.

"We decided to schedule Spanish lessons for another day." Grace answered completely unaware on what was going on between Peter and his aunt. Ned, however, did notice and the teenager couldn't help but look back and forth between May and Peter. He had no idea how this was about to end.

Thankfully much to Peter's relief, May didn't dwell on this topic for long. "Oh, well that's nice." She finally replied. The expression she had on her face (one only Peter can read thoroughly definition), pretty much said, _"We'll talk about this later."_

Peter in response gave his aunt a sheepish smile. Grateful she had let that lie of his go...for now anyways.

May once again focused her attention onto Grace. She offered the teenage girl a cordial like expression. "So would you like some cookies? I went to the store because I had all these groceries to buy. I know one shouldn't eat anything sweet before dinner but what the heck. Why not?"

There was still a good amount of the movie left to watch but Grace felt like declining Peter's aunt's offer for cookies would be rude. And even though she had ate the sandwich Peter kindly got for her, Grace was still up for more food. Actually she was always up for eating food. Even though cookies weren't considered a healthy food item, she had a tendency to eat unhealthy. Not that her eating habits affected her health. Well, maybe, but not in a way that put her more at risk with her neurological disorder. "I'd love some cookies." She answered happily.

As May guided Grace towards the kitchen area both Ned and Peter remained in place. Ned took in the whole thing with wide eyes, astonished. While Peter who was just as surprised to see his aunt and Grace getting along real well felt another emotion go through him.

Nostalgia.

With heedful eyes, Peter watched his aunt May and Grace take seats at the kitchens table. Aunt May had taken out the _store_ bought cookies and put them on a plate. Peter was surprised that May hadn't made the cookies herself but he figured she was trying to spare Grace from eating burnt cookies instead. Whenever she baked they always came out that way. Now that wasn't a surprise. Uncle Ben had been the cook and baker in the Parker family. No matter how much May tried she just couldn't master the skill of cooking and even baking. However, despite her many fails in the kitchen, Peter greatly appreciated her trying and there was a reason for that. The reason being was that his aunt was trying to uphold a sense of normality in their lives. It was this persistence that made Peter endure the amusing results that happened in the kitchen. They were for the most part fun to watch but Peter couldn't deny that at times watching his Aunt May in the kitchen made him miss his Uncle Ben.

" _Dude_." Ned whispered almost breathless.

Hearing his best friend brought Peter out of his thoughts. "What?" He whispered back. He was still observing his Aunt May and Grace talking with one another. He once again felt happy that they were getting along with one another.

Ned felt like jumping in place but contained his excitement from doing so. That didn't stop his verbal excitement. "Your aunt and Grace are talking and eating cookies. Chocolate chip cookies."

Peter didn't think the type of cookies they ate was important, but nevertheless he felt his stomach do various flips. Not from nerves but from happiness. His brown eyes gleamed with joy. "I know."

"That's great." Ned replied just as content.

Peter nodded his head. "I know."

What Ned said next though totally caught Peter off guard.

"This is basically your Aunt May giving her blessing. Now all you need is Mr. Stark's."

"I know—wait _what_?" Peter asked, slack-jawed. He now was looking at his best friend with wide eyes.

His reaction just had Ned shrugging his shoulders. The nonchalant shrug he did not lessen Peter's shock at all. However, just as he was about to say something else his aunt caught both of their attention. This time Peter managed to control his shocked self when he heard his aunt calling him and Ned over to join Grace and her.

Peter didn't need to be told twice and neither did Ned. Both boys hurriedly made their way over to join them—completely forgetting about the movie that was still playing. Ned happily took the seat next to May and Peter sat down next to Grace. The Stark girl gave Peter a smile that had the boy blushing and smiling back.

This action was not only noticed by Ned but also by May. The older woman then tried very hard to hold back the amused expression that wanted to escape her.

* * *

It was the sound of lightsabers that made Peter and Ned remember about the movie that was still playing. That and _Kylo Ren's_ dramatic yelling. Peter and Ned turned the movie off with Peter apologizing to Ned about not finishing the movie. Ned though was fine with that. Apparently talking with his aunt and Grace totally made up for it. It also helped that there were chocolate chip cookies as well.

The conversation at first had just been simple. Mainly between May and Grace with Peter and Ned making comments here and there. Somehow though (right when there were a few cookies left) the conversation had taken a turn and it became a conversation with Ned asking Grace questions. They were questions that were similar to the ones he asked when he first found out Peter was Spider-Man. When this started happening Peter looked at his Aunt May for help but she just gave him a look that said _"Don't look at me, he's your best friend."_

Usually when people asked Grace non-stop questions regarding the Avengers it bothered her. Except despite the random questions Grace was receiving from Ned she wasn't the least bit annoyed. She was actually fairly amused and she was enjoying his questions. They were fun to answer.

"The Avengers pay taxes like everybody else, right?" Ned asked deeply curious.

Grace giggled and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm assuming, yeah. I mean, my dad does."

"What can you tell me about Thor?" Ned asked, curious.

Grace didn't have to think long to form an answer. "He's more on the loud side and he eats all my pop-tarts whenever he visits."

"Did you meet that brother of his? Loki?" Ned asked a bit more on edge. Peter and May waited patiently to hear what Grace had to say.

"Adopted brother." Grace corrected. She almost rolled her eyes at the mention of Loki. She disliked the trickster very much. Which was perfectly understandable considering he had thrown her dad out a window and then proceeded trying to take over the world. "Yes, but I refer to him only as Rudolph."

Peter and May found that nickname to be weird but kept any comments they had to themselves.

Accepting that answer Ned moved on with his next question. "What's Captain America like? Is he a grumpy old man or is he chill? I've always had this thought that he'd be super grumpy because he was originally from the 20th century."

"Nah most of the time he's pretty laid back. Just watch your language in front of him." Grace warned him trying to sound super serious but the way her lips curled upwards most have probably ruined her earnest act. "He's not a fan of cuss words. He even got my dad to ground me once for my _language_."

Ned was floored by this information as were Peter and May. "Wow. Captain America got your dad to ground you. That's awesome—wait no it's not." He said making a face. He then shook his head. "Okay it is and it isn't at the same time. If that makes any sense."

Grace smiled from hearing his ramble. It was endearing to listen to but she had to admit she liked hearing Peter ramble more.

Ned then asked the main question that had been running around in his mind. "Does Hulk smell nice? Or no? I've always wondered. Peter's never told me."

 _Oh My God, Ned._ Is what Peter wanted to say but the brown eyes boy just settled with a _"what are you saying?!"_ type of stare instead. Once again though Ned was too into the conversation to even acknowledge Peter's stare. From the sidelines May had to contain the laugh that wanted to escape her.

This question almost had Grace lose it with laughter as well. Just thinking about Bruce and Ned's question about how his alter ego smelled like was too much. The urge to laugh though was pushed down. She instead took the serious route again. She looked right into Ned's eyes. "He smells wonderful. Like fresh _green_ apples."

Ned was slightly thrown back by how serious she sounded. Peter and May were too but then they saw how Grace's expression became lighthearted. Her dark eyes gleamed and her lips were curling upwards again. Seeing her smile like that soon got the others to start smiling too. Pretty soon nobody was able to hold in their laughter any longer and the room was filled with it.

"No, but seriously there's not a particular type of smell that I can think of to describe him." Grace answered Ned once she was able to settle down from her laughing. Ned seemed to accept that answer as well and nodded his head. There was ton of another questions he wanted to ask but he decided he'd ask later.

May then added something else into the conversation, leading it away from the random Avenger questions. "You know I'm just amazed at how well you handle yourself with all this Avengers stuff going on in your life." May complimented her. "I for one am extremely relieved Peter here is also able to manage school and being Spider-Man. At the beginning when he told me I was worried and against him doing this superhero stuff. I was afraid of it not only getting in the way of his schooling but also because of the dangers he faced. But as I have been proven Peter can handle himself. And as for school, well he's doing such a good job." May boasted sending her nephew a proud smile. "He's just such a little genius."

Peter wanted to hide under a rock from hearing his aunt say that last sentence. His face flushed when Grace glanced his way. He only started to cool down when she focused her attention onto his aunt again.

"That's good to hear." Grace answered pleasant. She was happy to hear that being Spider-Man hadn't affected Peter's life in a negative way. That's was the upside of having a secret identity. He was able to separate his Spider-Man life from his normal Peter Parker life. How she wished she was able to do that. But alas she only had one identity. But it was one that definitely came with its perks. "And it's unusual to say the least." Grace said regarding the whole Avengers stuff. "But I've come to meet a lot of interesting people." Grace replied with a smile. "Anyways.." She said decided to move on the conversation. She looked between Ned and Peter. "What school do you guys go to?" She asked them genuinely interested.

Peter had to blink a few times because her smile was just so distracting. It was too pretty for his own eyes to see. _Thankfully_ he was able to compose himself. "Midtown School of Science and Technology."

A look of recognition briefly crossed Grace's face. "Oh, I know that school."

"You do?" Peter asked her.

Grace nodded her head. Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty well known school. I was at one point thinking of going there."

"Really?" Peter's brown eyes softened. He almost went into another daze just from hearing that. In his mind he was already imagining how amazing it would have been if Grace had gone to his and Ned's school.

"Yeah, but then I decided not to." Grace replied casually.

And just like that Peter's day dream of Grace and him hanging out at school shattered.

"We're on the Academic Decathlon team at our school." Ned suddenly blurted out sounding proud. His smile expanded as he continued to talk. "We answer academic questions."

Peter recovered from the disappointment. He now felt like face palming himself when he heard Ned say that out-loud. _Really Ned?_ He, however, was pleasantly surprised to hear Grace's laugh.

"That sounds cool." Grace replied merrily.

"So, Grace." May said gaining the Stark girl's attention. "If you don't mind me asking, what school do you attend then?" She asked the teenage girl. May was curious to hear about her education status if she wasn't attending public school. It must have been something way different considering who her father was.

This was quickly followed by Ned's own question. "Are you in any school activities?"

Grace cleared the tickle she got in her throat. Despite this little tick she was excepting to get such a question. She did after all tell them she wasn't going to regular school. That didn't mean she liked talking about it. Still she did since not answering the question would be considered rude on her part. "I actually don't go to regular school. Not anymore." She admitted in a low voice. When she spoke again her voice wasn't as low as before. "I'm home-schooled. But when I used to go to Nightingale-Bamford for middle school I was on the girls soccer team. I was a striker." A honest smile appeared on the fifteen's year old when bringing up soccer. She absolutely loved the sport. And she didn't mean to sound full of herself, but she was a real good player. Unfortunately for medical reasons she had to stop playing. Remembering that detail almost made Grace's smile falter but she knew better than to let the others see her upset because of that misfortune. She decided to then put on a nonchalant act. Something she very much got from her father. "But I got bored quickly and moved on." She said shrugging her shoulders.

May and Ned didn't think there was anything wrong with her answer but Peter could tell something was off. He got the same feeling from before when they had been talking on the couch and he had seen her smile at him. The smile didn't seem genuine. Just like now the indifferent attitude she was displaying seemed just as forced as well. His earnest staring finally caught Grace's attention because she turned to look at him with furrowed eyebrows. Before she said anything to him though, Peter averted eye-contact.

"Nightingale-Bamford?" May repeated quizzically. The older woman didn't notice the quick exchange that happened between the teens. "The elite private school here in New York?"

Focusing back onto the question, Grace returned her gaze towards May. "That's the one." Truthfully she didn't really liked talking about her old school. It brought back awful memories. She was glad she no longer went there.

May nodded her head, impressed. "That's a very nice school. I hear great reviews about their academics."

Grace's smile tightend. Despite not wanting to admit it what May said was the truth. Nightingale-Bamford was a nice school. In a way it reminded Grace of the private school from the old telenovela she just to watch called _Rebelde._ Even though it wasn't a stay-in boarding school she still had to wear a uniform. Which she didn't mind wearing because it made her feel normal. She didn't stand out or anything. She blended just like all the other students. Unfortunately no matter how much the school was praised there was still the misfortune of having bad students. And one in particular ruined the joy of going to school with others in general. Which sucked because Grace liked going to school. But considering what happened when she was thirteen years old, she was now perfectly fine with being home-schooled.

All of a sudden a _loud_ obnoxious ringtone started to play. It didn't take long for Grace to realize who's ringtone that belonged to.

 _"Hello?! Why won't you answer me?! Hello?! This is your cellphone! What? Do you think you're just not gonna answer me?! You keep me in your pocket like I'm some dirty little_ —"

Reaching into her jeans pocket, fumbling while doing so, Grace was able to reach her cellphone and turn off the alarm before the curse word was able to reach full ears. She gave the three of them a sheepish expression. "Sorry about that." As she apologized she was inwardly shaking her head. _Really dad? Really?! You had to pick that ringtone for my alarm?_ The urge to cover her embarrassed face with her hands was strong.

"That was a rather interesting ringtone." Peter finally commented. The concern he had felt before was now being overshadowed by the amusement he was feeling on account on what just occurred.

Despite the embarrassment she was feeling, Grace let out a low laugh. "Uh, yeah blame my dad for that. He's always changing my ringtone for the fun of it. One time it was the _Mission Impossible_ theme song but with chicken's clucking the theme."

"Really?" Peter questioned as Ned and May found that information to be just as funny.

Grace nodded her head. "Yeah." Her dad often changed her alarm ringtone. Sure it was funny but deep down Grace knew there was a serious meaning behind it. A meaning that reminded her to not forget to take her medication. And that was exactly what she needed to do now. Except she didn't want to take her medication in front of them. Especially Peter. She didn't feel comfortable enough to do so. Her medical condition was something not a lot of people knew about. That was a detail her dad had somehow managed able to keep from the public. It was going to stay a secret until she said otherwise. She'd just have to excuse herself and take her medication once outside the apartment.

"Anyways, I should probably be heading out now." Grace said getting up from the chair. Peter followed her lead and Ned followed his.

"Would you like a ride home?" May offered as she too stood up.

"No, that's okay." Grace politely declined.

"Is Happy picking you up?" Peter asked her. Happy and him had a rather weird friendship. Well, if one could even call it a friendship. Peter was pretty sure Happy found him annoying.

Grace grabbed her back pack and adjusted it over her shoulders. "Yeah, I'm gonna call him." Normally she would have taken a taxi home or even the bus, but considering it was into the afternoon now she decided getting a ride back from Happy would be the better option. Besides, her dad and Pepper never liked her coming home on her own at the time.

"Would you like to wait in here until he comes?" May asked her.

That was a nice offer but Grace couldn't accept. She had to leave the apartment in order for them not see her taking her medication. "No, that's fine." She politely declined once more. "I really don't mind waiting outside. Besides, I love to take in the air of Queens." She lightheartedly said.

"If you're sure." May reluctantly relented. She gave her a smile. "It was really nice to meet you, Grace."

Grace smiled back. "You too, May."

"Don't be a stranger and come over again." May excitedly told the teenager. "Maybe next time I'll cook dinner. I know how much the boys loves my lasagna. Peter especially."

Ned and Peter exchanged quick grimaces before plastering on smiles.

"I'd like that." Grace replied not noticing the facial expressions between the boys. "And I'm definitely coming back. I still owe Peter Spanish lessons."

"Oh that's right." May answered innocently glancing at her nephew. "You do."

"There's no hurry." Peter now interjected shyly. Mainly because his Aunt May was there this time. "I don't want to interrupt your schedule."

Grace waved her hand. "You're not interrupting anything. But I'll call you again for when I can come over. Maybe by then you'll have mastered your cellphone." She joked, good-natured. She hadn't properly showed him how to use his cellphone but she would send him a link to one of the tutorials her dad made. Perhaps that would help him out.

Peter laughed, whimsical. "I promise the next time I see you, I'll be a pro."

"I'm sure you will." Grace agreed, amused. She then became earnest. "See you later, Peter."

Peter felt butterflies in his stomach again. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'll uh, see you later, Grace."

Ned had to hold in his merriment when she looked over towards him. "Sorry we didn't finish seeing the whole movie." She apologized to him.

"That's more than okay. Especially since you answered my questions. Thanks for that by the way." Ned hurriedly said to her.

Grace giggled. "Happy to do so." She answered honestly. "Hope to see you too, Ned."

Ned nodded his head. "Oh you will. I go where ever Peter goes. Except for the bathroom. That would be weird."

Grace once again was amused by him. She laughed knowing that was her cue to go. Being the gentleman that he was, Peter walked her to the front door and opened it for her. She walked through the door but before taking another step she looked over her shoulder. She bashfully waved her hand as goodbye before she started walking again. It was when she turned the corner that Peter finally closed his apartment door. He had on a starry-eyed expression when he walked over to his Aunt May and best friend.

"I think that went very well." Ned announced gleefully.

May nodded her head. "I think so too." A smile appeared on her face as she looked at her nephew. "I like her."

Hearing his Aunt May's verbal acceptance on Grace made Peter content. His brown eyes wandered back to the front door. He let out a heart-felt sigh. "Me too." He whispered.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 _ **A/N:** I'm glad people liked the last chapter. I loved writing aunt May into the mix. She's a total Grace x Peter shipper. Expect to read more chapters with her later on. Sadly there's no Peter in this chapter but he is mentioned. Don't worry he'll be in the next chapter. On the bright side you get more Grace and Tony scenes in this chapter. I've come to realize how much everyone likes their interactions xD In a way their father-daughter relationship reminds me of Rory and Lorelai's relationship from Gilmore Girls. Just a heads up in the next chapter we also get to see a certain book lover. So if you're a Michelle fan you'll like the cameo she has in next chapter with Peter and Ned. Don't worry Michelle and Grace will eventually meet. I can already imagine how they're going to act with one another. Those two are going to be quite the pair. xD _

_**P.S**. Also in case there's still some confusion regarding Grace's sexual orientation, I want to confirm that Grace is indeed bisexual. Which is something that Tony and others don't know about. She's been keeping that to herself because she's worried about how the others would react. But don't worry Grace's main love interest will still be Peter. ^.^. __Anyways, I'll stop rambling now. Enjoy!_

* * *

 ** _Chapter 10: Another reminder_**

With a extra spring in her step, Grace entered the Avengers Tower with bright eyes and a smile. Ever since leaving Peter's apartment she had been in a very good mood. Her mood had been so pronounced that even Happy took notice of it while driving to the Tower. Grace was glad he hadn't asked why she was in such high spirits, but considering he had picked her up he had a good guess as to why that was. However, she was too damn cheerful to even process the fact that Happy knew she had been at Peter's and that he was the reason for her current happiness.

Grace entered one of the Tower's elevators and immediately asked Friday to take her to her dad's lab. Perhaps she should have gone to her room first to drop off her backpack but her carefree mood just made her want to see her dad. When the elevator made the _ding_ noise and opened it's door to the lab, Grace was left fairly surprised. Unlike the last time she had been in there the lab it wasn't empty. There were people in there—two be more specific—but neither of the two people in there were her dad. Despite wondering where her dad was, Grace couldn't help but feel extreme delight when looking at the two familiar faces.

Bruce Banner and Jane Foster.

Both scientists had yet to notice her presence but Grace could understand and see why that was.

Bruce was currently looking at a holographic screen with a pensive expression. While Jane who was standing next to him, was gazing down at the scattered papers over one of the tables. The brunette woman appeared to be quite transfixed with whatever she was reading. Grace concluded it was something science related. She remained quiet, taking the both of them in. They looked fine and dandy, and just the same as the last time she had seen them. Except what was she really expecting? Something completely different? That wasn't likely. Especially with Bruce. He looked the same as usual. Disheveled hair with a somewhat tired looking face. Out of all the Avengers, Bruce was the one Grace would see the most. Which made sense. Bruce and her dad were science bros after all.

As for Jane—well she was still the same pretty brown doe-eyed woman. Her pretty looks though weren't what made Grace admire her. Despite science not being her favorite subject, Grace had to give Jane props for all the work she had done involving astrophysicists. The woman was definitely smart and determined. Although she never said it out-loud, Grace thought Jane was a great role model for young girls who wanted to pursue a career in the science department. Just like how Pepper was fantastic role-models for girls who wanted to pursue a business career. Grace could sense the usual air of total determination lingering around Jane. The longer she stared at Jane the more she came to realize something. There was _one_ thing different about her and that was her hair. It looked a bit longer than the last time Grace had seen her. But that was perfectly normal. Hair grows out...duh.

When she finally finished taking them in, Grace decided to speak up. "Bruce!" She loudly announced as she readjusted her backpack over one shoulder instead. It didn't take a genius to figure out how really happy she was to see the male scientist who she considered to be a second dad. The teen's happiness only increased when Jane's brown eyes landed onto hers. "And _Jane_!" Grace exclaimed putting on her best Thor impression. To her it sounded just like Thor.

Bruce hadn't jumped when he heard the familiar voice of Grace Stark. Instead he looked towards her direction, a fond smile already forming. "Hello, Grace." He kindly greeted the teen. He found great amusement when he heard try to sound like Thor.

Jane too had smiled at the teenager's impression. "How are you Grace?"

Grace fixed her voice to sound like herself again. "Better than ever." She answered merrily as she walked over to them. "You?"

"I'm well."

"How about Darcy? It's been a while since I've seen her." Grace was curious to hear how Darcy was going. If there was one person Grace Stark got along with great and shared the exact same type of sarcastic sassy humor other than her dad, it was Darcy Lewis. Jane's lab assistant and Erik Selvig's intern. The amount of times Darcy had made the teen laugh is uncountable to this point. She seriously missed the witty dark haired girl.

"Darcy's been...well she's been Darcy." Jane concluded whimsically when she was unable to come up with anything else regarding lab assistant's well being. "She got an intern." She told Grace at the last second.

"Wait the intern got an intern?" Grace questioned, amused. That sounded like something Darcy would do.

Jane laughed. "Yeah."

"Huh, maybe I should think about getting an intern myself." Grace jokingly suggested. She gazed over to Bruce who had direct his attention towards the holographic screen. "What do you say Bruce? You want to apply for being my intern."

Bruce adjusted the glasses his was wearing before looking at her again. "I'd happily apply Grace but I don't think Tony would survive without me." He said lightheartedly.

Grace knew it was a joke but in a way it was also the truth. Bruce much like Pepper helped keep an eye out on her dad in case he did something dangerous. Like causing an explosion in the lab. Which actually was more a common thing than she wanted it to be. However she had Bruce to thank for making sure her dad never got hurt when things headed south. "You're right." She said taking a less serious tone. "Knowing my father he'd probably cause a fire or something without your supervision." She joked causing Bruce and even Jane to smile at that comment.

When Bruce and Jane gave their attention to their work again, Grace then came to another realization. If Jane was here that meant a certain blonde Demigod must have been here too. "So, is Thor here?" She asked the female scientist causing her to look at her again. It would have been a coincidence if he was considering she had mentioned him today when over at Peter's. She wondered if she still had enough time to salvage whatever pop-tarts were left.

To her surprise however, Jane shook her head. There was mild disappointment in her eyes before she shielded whatever emotions she had with a small smile. "No, I just came by because Bruce and your father offered to help me on a new project I'm doing."

Mildly relieved her that her strawberry flavored pop-tarts were safe, Grace nodded her head. Suddenly what Jane said hit Grace, leaving her muddled. "Really, my dad?" She questioned with a puzzled expression. She could understand Bruce offering his help (he was a nice guy after all) but her dad? Not that her dad wasn't a nice guy...because he was to her and Pepper. But Grace did know how less serious and pestering he could be with others. With Jane in particular he always seemed to give her a hard time because of how serious she appeared to be on the outside. Her dad always made fun of people who took themselves seriously. That was something she not only saw with Jane but also with Steve. And although the jokes and comments Tony made were harmless ones, Grace could tell they still annoyed Jane. Hence why the teen was surprised to hear that he was assisting Jane in this project of hers. Tony did let her come and work at the lab when she wanted but to actually assist on something with her? Huh? Perhaps Bruce had managed to convince him somehow.

"You know Tony." Bruce softly inputted joining the conversation again. "If there's even a small chance something could blow up and go horribly wrong in the comedic sense, he's all in."

Grace felt like face palming herself. All that stuff from before with her dad getting into trouble in the lab came back. "That's so true." Grace right away agreed. No wonder her dad wanted in on this project. "Where is he now?" She asked.

Bruce swiped holographic screen showing a different colored charts. What they were about, Grace had no idea what so ever. "He went upstairs to get something to drink." He told the teen as he began analyzing the charts before him.

Grace took the answer before looking around the lab. "So, is it a full Tower this afternoon?" She asked the two scientists. Jane caught Bruce's gaze shrugging her shoulders before he decided to answer the teen's question.

"I think it's just us." Bruce informed her. "I ran into Pepper earlier when I arrived but she said she was going to some meeting. Your dad did say Steve was here earlier today as well. He must have gone to the work out room. I don't know if he's still here though."

Grace supposed she could have asked Friday about Steve's presence but she didn't feel like it. Mainly because it would have felt like she was stalking him. Which she wasn't. She no longer used her dad's A.I. system to keep a track on him. She hadn't done that since she was younger. Thankfully she out grew her fan-girl ways. "I don't understand why he just doesn't use the one at the main Avengers facility?" Grace asked. "Not that I don't like him visiting because I do." And she certainly did...a lot.

"He says the one here is better." Bruce simply answered her.

"I'll never understand super-soldiers." Grace replied in a mild daze.

 _"Super-solider_." Bruce gently corrected. Even though Bucky basically had the same abilities as Captain America, Steve Rogers was still viewed as the first and at times the only super-solider within and out of the Avengers.

Grace waved one of her hands. "Yeah, yeah. He's one of a kind. Believe me, I know." She said once again refusing to return to her old Captain America fan-girl ways. She was about to continue the conversation but she saw how Bruce and Jane were in concentration mode again. The teen knew her talking was just distracting them, so she decided to cut her visit short. There would be plenty of time later to chat with them.

"Alright, I'll let you geniuses get back to work then. " Grace waved her hand in a very similar way Tony would. "See you two beautiful people later!" She said in a up beat voice as walked towards the elevator. Before the doors closed on her she gave them a bright smile that also very similar to Tony's.

When Grace was no longer in their sights, Jane's expression turned into one of bewildered delight. "She's so much like her father." She told Bruce but despite the similarities she shared with Tony, Jane was not at all bothered by the teen.

Bruce nodded his head. His lips forming into a genuine smile. "You have no idea."

* * *

Back upstairs was another story as Tony opened his refrigerator door. A frown appeared on his face at the sight before him. "Unbelievable." The billionaire muttered. "Who keeps drinking all the _Root beer_ up in here?" He asked to no one in general. He, however, got an answer.

"Okay, I confess...it was me." Grace replied letting her presence be known. She held her hands up as if she were surrendering when walking into the kitchen.

Tony sighed pretending to be disappointed He made the choice to grab a _Coca-Cola_ instead before closing the refrigerator. "I should have known." He said facing his daughter. "I never should have let you had your first _Root beer_ at the age of seven. Look at you now...a helpless addict."

Grace lowered her hands and sighed as if heart-broken. "It really is all your fault." She said giving her dad sad eyes.

Tony's upset act and Grace's sad act were quickly dropped when they suddenly burst into laughter. Once she was able to control her laughter, Grace set her backpack onto the kitchen counter. She walked over to where her dad was and grabbed a soda from the refrigerator. She cracked open the _Grape_ soda and did cheers with her dad once he opened his own soda. They both took sips enjoying their carbonated soft drinks.

"Where were you today?" Tony asked when they entered a comfortable silence. Earlier today Pepper had told him Grace had left to the Tower. This wasn't unusual, Grace often did that. Except she had left in such a hurry that she didn't even tell Pepper where she was going. This worried Tony but he trust that his daughter wouldn't do something dangerous. It was then thanks to Happy, that Tony became aware of where exactly Grace had been. Once learning of her previous whereabouts, he wasn't angry at her. His daughter had the freedom to go where she wanted (as long as it was safe) but he was just a little confused that she had gone there in the first place. "Happy said he picked you up from Underoos' place." He said not letting her answer his question. That was a total Stark move. Ask a question but then answer it yourself before the other person has a chance to.

Grace huffed. Of course Happy told him where she had been. This really shouldn't have surprised her. She knew she'd eventually have to tell her dad that she had been over at Peter's place. She would have preferred to tell him later on her own time but it seemed she didn't have much of a choice now. She took another sip of her soda before replying casually. "If you knew where I was at then why even ask?"

"Because I'm your dad and the book I got about parenting says I'm supposed to ask." Tony jokingly responded. His voice then took a out of character tone with her. It sounded serious which made Grace want to laugh. "So what did you and Underoos do? I don't have to go over there and kick his butt do I?"

Despite holding in her laughter, Grace couldn't help the small that escaped her. Ever the overprotective dad. "No dad we just hung out. That's all." She amusingly told him. "Although, I was supposed to start his Spanish lessons today."

Tony put his right hand up against one of his ears. "I'm sorry his what?" He asked acting as if he hadn't heard right.

Grace found this to be just as amusing and answered as if nothing was wrong. "When he was here last time Peter asked me if I could teach him Spanish. Said he had been wanting to learn the language. So I offered to help him."

Tony lowered his hand back down to his side. "He did?" He questioned with a small frown. He knew for certain that Peter didn't need Spanish. His Aunt May had been the one who had given him a copy of his class schedule as a way to let him know what classes he needed to keep up with. Spanish class being one of them. And from the last report he received from Peter's aunt regarding his grades he had been passing the class with an A. So why in the world would Peter ask Grace for Spanish lessons?

It then didn't take long for Tony to realize why the fifteen year old had lied. His frown wanted to deepen but Tony stopped himself from doing so. Despite his annoyance he knew Peter wasn't like the other kids who had lied to Grace in the past just to get a chance to enter the spotlight. Peter Parker was a good kid. That however didn't mean Tony liked him lying to his daughter. Except despite wanting to tell Grace the truth, Tony knew this was something Peter had to reveal and fix for himself.

 _Oh Underoos, you got some major explain' to do._

"Anyways..." Grace's voice broke Tony from his thoughts. He looked at his daughter whose eyes were gleaming with merriment. It was a sight Tony liked to see because she looked so happy. "We didn't actually get to start his lessons. We ended up watching a little bit of _The Force Awakens_ and just talked the rest of the time." The smile Grace had expanded when she said that. "We had fun." She admitted to her dad.

Tony could tell just how much she enjoyed handing out with Peter...and that made a red flash appear in his head. He never liked thinking about his daughter dating or even having crushes. To him she was still the five year old little girl who he had the luck of having her enter his life. Even remotely thinking about her with some boy had him inwardly panicking and worrying. So far he had been lucky that she hadn't shown any interest in boys or even dating. At least to him it looked that way. But apparently things were changing now.

Pepper had told him how Grace was recently crushing on some Swedish-American actor named _Bill Skarsgård._ He was an actor though so Tony didn't have to worry about his daughter getting with him. He was also older and lived no where near New York City. That was major plus. However, in Peter's case he wasn't an actor and he lived in the same city as her and was the same age. The chances Grace and him getting together were high. Tony supposed there could have been worse options considering boys but that still didn't mean Tony wanted his daughter to date anyone. Including Peter. Even though he was very much against her dating, Tony decided not to make his opinions known. That just would have caused an argument, and he never liked arguing with his daughter. He decided to take the teasing route. Partly because of denial that his daughter could possibly like Underoos, but also because it was just easier to joke about things. He forced a grin to appear on his face. "Aw, do I hear wedding bells in the future?"

Grace made a face when she heard her dad say that. She felt her stomach do a flip but decided not to analyze that feeling. "As if." She tried to act cool from the comment her dad threw at her. Wedding bells? Blah. She hardly thought of marriage. She was fifteen years old! Besides who knows, maybe she'd end up marrying a woman instead. If she had an awesome personality and looked like the actress _Margot Robbie_ then Grace would have no problem entering a marriage. "We're just friends." She concluded. Once again she got a weird feeling in her stomach when she said this but she just ignored it.

Tony was relieved to hear that but made his content known with just a hum. "You take your daily dose?" He asked her moving the conversation away from the current topic.

Grace should have known he was going to ask her that. "Yes, I did." And that was the truth. She had taken her medication once she was out of Peter's apartment. Rolling with the current discussion she then pretended to sound irritated with what she said next. "And thanks for that by the way."

Tony knew exactly what she was referring to. He managed to stop the amused smile that wanted to escape him. "Like I said before, I'm just doing my fatherly duty." He said shrugging his shoulders before taking another sip from his own soda.

Grace set her _Grape_ soda on the kitchen counter. "But did it have to be _that_ ringtone?" She asked as she put her hands on her hips.

Tony's amusement grew from how serious his daughter appeared to be. The pose she was doing was a total grown up pose. A pose an adult would give a child when they didn't listen or broke a rule. He knew though that she wasn't as annoyed as she was making herself to be. "Yes, it did." He ended up answering in faux seriousness. He stared at his daughter expecting her to drop the ' _I'm whole annoyed'_ act but she was holding on strong. Tony set his own soda aside as he playfully poked Grace's cheek. This was something he would always do when she was a kid to get her to smile. "Oh, come on." He finally let his own smile appear on his face. "You're telling me it didn't even get you to crack a tiny smile?"

No matter her protests, Grace's irritated act dropped. Her hands resided back to her sides and her lips betrayed her as they formed into a small smile. "Okay...maybe it did. Peter and the others sure found it amusing."

This sparked interest in Tony. "Others?" He questioned, curious. So it hadn't just been Grace and Peter? That made Tony feel slightly better.

"His Aunt May and his best friend Ned." Grace informed him.

That got a animated reaction out of Tony. "Yes the lovely aunt and the ever enthusiastic best friend. Happy had a lot to tell me about him. Did May offer you some of her famous walnut loaf?"

Grace furrowed her eyebrows. "No we ate cookies." She told him.

"Store bought?" Tony brought up.

Grace nodded her head. "Yup."

"Figures." Tony mumbled low enough for Grace to hear him. It was then when he looked at his daughter again that he finally remembered something. And it was something that was important. Tony didn't want to bring it up but he had to. It just sadden him that what he was about to say was going to probably ruin Grace's current happy mood. He sighed and a earnest look was beginning to appear on his face and somehow Grace knew this was one wasn't a fake one. "By the way..." He said keeping his voice steady and clear. "You have a doctors' appointment on Tuesday." He solemnly reminded her.

Grace's dark eyes widened. Oh crap. Her dad was right. She had totally forgotten about her appointment. How could she forget? Apparently hanging out at Peter's place and her resulting happiness made her forget about her doctors' appointment. She bit the inside of her cheek. The teen would have to go the doctors' the day after tomorrow. That was something Grace was certainly not looking forward to. If there was one thing Grace disliked doing very much it was going to the doctor. However, she knew it was necessary.

Except that didn't mean she liked going. Despite her bright mood being faltered, she continued on as if not affected. "What about that one phrase? An apple a day keeps the doctors away." Grace rolled her eyes. "What a load of bull—"

"Ah, don't finish that sentence. Not unless you want Capsicle to hear and then I'm gonna have no choice but to ground you...again." Tony said returning back to his lighthearted self. He knew the reminder of her going to the doctor affected his daughter greatly but he could see she was doing her best to hide it. Another quality she got from him. Hiding emotions. Tony didn't like that she harbored her feeling but he could understand why she did it. He couldn't force her to talk—he tried to before in the past but he knows now forcing her to speak was not the right way to go. No matter how much he didn't like it he just had to wait for her to come to him. "Anyways." Tony continued swiftly. "When have you ever eaten an apple?" He jokingly remarked.

Grace threw her dad a playful glare. Although deep down she was relieved he hadn't pestered her about her feelings regarding her soon to be visit to the doctor. "I eat apples all the time."

Tony scoffed. "Apple flavored pop-tarts don't count."

Grace stuck out her tongue. Tony just playfully rolled her eyes. "That's not very lady-like. What would Pepper say?"

"That I'm wickedly adorable." Grace answered with a smile.

"The wicked part is right." Tony said causing Grace to give him a fake offended look. She quickly broke into giggles.

Tony became somewhat serious again. "Now onto the doctor..." He didn't want to bring it up again but he didn't verbally hear Grace say that she was going to go. He wouldn't have asked but she had skipped doctors' appointments before in the past. Although that wasn't something that happened anymore because Pepper always accompanied her to the doctor now. Still he had a need to ask.

Interestingly enough when Grace had been younger she always refused to go to the doctor unless her dad went with her. Now it was the opposite. She preferred her dad didn't go. Unbeknownst to Tony, Grace had a reason for this. If she was going to get bad news Grace didn't want her dad to be there. She'd rather tell him later than at the doctors office. That was just her choice.

Despite Tony not knowing the real reason behind it he had relief knowing that Pepper always accompanied Grace to the doctors'. The strawberry blonde haired woman wouldn't allow Grace to go to the doctor alone. That was nonnegotiable. Besides since Grace was a minor she needed to have an adult with her. And on that order, Grace much preferred Pepper to go than her dad.

Grace let out a huff. She knew he just wanted to hear her say she was going to go. "Fine, I'll go."

Despite being glad with her agreement, Tony appeared bewildered. Once again he decided to act jocular. "Wait a second...I'm _so_ confused." He announced dramatically. He let his gaze wander around the room as if he were looking for someone in particular. His eyes then settled onto her again. "Where's the girl who refuses to go to the doctor without me holding her hand. Or the girl who cries unless she has her stuffed bear, Mr. Whiskers."

"Okay first of all..." Grace said starting her rant. "I never had a stuffed bear named Mr. Whiskers." Her face scrunched up with dislike. "That sounds more like a cat name, and a total lame one. No one should name their cat Mr. Whiskers." The fifteen year old then soften her expression but it was nowhere near being classified as earnest. "Second of all, I think you have me mistaken with your other daughter. You know the one that sounds and looks exactly like me."

"Ah, yes." Tony said playing along with her joke. " _Juliet_. I wonder what she's been up to?"

Grace got a thoughtful expression. "Preparing world domination. Following Loki's footsteps. She'll never succeed though...she's too lazy. A quality we all know who she got from." She finished saying as she gave him a pointed look.

"Ouch!" Tony exclaimed with grin. "That's a burn right there."

Grace didn't say anything back just smiled. Tony though could see how forced the smile was this time. His heart ached seeing her so despondent compared to how happy she had been not that long ago. "It's gonna be okay." He softly reassured her. "It's just a regular visit to the doctor."

Grace lowered her eyes. "I know." She replied faintly. A few seconds passed before she lifted up her gaze. And just like with a flip of a switch she became her carefree self again. "Now if you'll excuse me." She made a show of grabbing her soda."I have a book to finish about an evil entity who takes the form of a clown and terrorizes kids." She announced excitedly as she left the room.

Even though Tony felt bad that his daughter was affected by the doctor news, he couldn't help but be distracted by her sudden cheerful demeanor. He shook his head fondly. A smile settled on his face. It was a rare smile that only came out for people he truly cared for.

Grace being one of them.

"What a weird kid." Tony said to himself once his daughter was out of his sight. There was no doubt in the world she was his daughter. He chuckled and shook his head once more before he grabbed his soda and went back to the lab.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Guys I'm going to see Infinity Wars tomorrow with my brother. I am both excited and scared! My sister-in-law is going tonight but I told her not to spoil it for me. I have a feeling though I'm gonna need a box of tissues for my tears! __Gah! o.O_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 _ **A/N:** I saw **Avengers: Infinity War** last night and...honestly I am an emotional mess right now. I didn't cry in the theater because I held my tears but I broke down once I was alone in my room. I don't want to go into details about what exactly happens in the movie because I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't seen it yet...but **OMG**. I need hug man, I really do. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter as a way to help those who have been affected by the movie. We definitely need some humor in our lives right now. __This specific chapter was fun and a little hard to write. Mainly the difficulty came from writing more about Grace's medical condition because it's rather serious. However I feel the rest levels out the chapter. Enjoy!_

 _ **P.S.** I have several ideas on how to involve the Guardians of the Galaxy later on in this story. I really want Grace to met them and have interactions with them, but especially with Quill, Groot, and Rocket. ^.^ _

* * *

_**Chapter 11: In the clear...for now**_

Grace's dark eyes wandered around the consultation room in uneasiness. Her stomach was in knots and her heart hammered against her chest. Just waiting for the doctor to finally enter the room had her anxious beyond belief. She _always_ freaked out at this part of her doctors' visit. Waiting had never really been her strong suit but especially when it came to seeing the doctor.

The nurse hadn't left her in there for that long but Grace already felt like the walls were closing in on her. Pulling on her jackets sleeves, Grace took deep breaths to calm herself down. As she did this she let her legs swing back and forth from where she was currently sitting on the examination table. Her eyes closed as words of reassurance sprang into her head.

 _It's just another regular check up. Like dad said. Everything's going to be fine._

As Grace thought this she remembered all her other past doctor visits. It lessened the fear she had during that time because despite her nervousness she had come out just fine. No other bad news about her health was thrown at her. However, given the terrible luck her mom's side of the family had with health problems, Grace had a feeling she was going to be diagnosed with something else. It could take months or maybe even years but she had a feeling in her gut that was going to happen someday. She just hoped to God it wasn't what her mom had the misfortune of having. The troubling neurological disorder Grace already had was bad enough.

Grace stopped swinging her legs and opened her again when she heard the door open. When she did so she was met with the sight of her raven haired doctor.

"Hello, Grace." Dr. Anderson greeted her cordially as she closed the door behind her.

Grace was not a huge fan of doctors. They always seemed to put her on edge. There were only a _few_ that she actually liked and could stand to be around. So it took a while but the teen eventually grew to trust and like Dr. Anderson. Due to the amount of time they have spent together, Grace no longer wanted any other doctor to treat her. Despite being comfortable around Dr. Anderson, Grace still didn't like going to the doctor. But as the teen said before it was a necessary thing to do.

Grace gave her a half-hearted wave. "Hello." Dr. Anderson came from Cherokee descent. She also happened to be a nice, if not a stoic woman. She was very professional. Like _Cristina Yang_ professional. It was rare for Grace to see an actual smile on the doctor's face. Most patients probably didn't like that but Grace honestly didn't mind. Perhaps that's why Grace grew to like her. The doctor never put on a over exaggerated fake happy act for Grace when talking about her health. Dr. Anderson just kept the conversation simple.

"So." Dr. Anderson trailed on as she walked over to her. When she sat down in the chair across from her, Grace noticed that she was holding a clipboard with papers. No doubt it contained her health information. "How have you been since the last time I saw you?"

Grace let out a sigh. It appeared they were going to do the whole catching up part. This meant the same question as always. "I've been good." She answered honestly.

Dr. Anderson nodded her head. Although Grace said she was fine it was still her job to confirm if that were true. "That's good to hear. So, you've been taking your medication as instructed?" Dr. Anderson asked her.

"You bet." Grace assured her.

Dr. Anderson quirked an eyebrow. "No missed doses?"

Grace shook her head. "No."

"No long lasting headaches? Jerking movements of the arms or legs? How about daydreaming episodes?" Dr. Anderson inquired.

Grace smiled. "Well, the other day I did daydream that I found a pot of gold over a rainbow." She wasn't surprised to see the bland expression Dr. Anderson had when she said this. A few seconds passed before the teen grew serious again. "No, I haven't had any of those symptoms for a while now. Come on, Doc. I haven't had an _episode_ for close to four months now."

Dr. Anderson looked down on her charts she was holding. "I know but the last one you had was unexpected. Even with the medication you take. Better to ask now then later." She then looked over to her again. This time more attentive. "No symptoms at all?"

Grace didn't want to think about the last episode she had. It made her feel various emotions. Humiliation being one of them. She was lucky that she had been at the Tower when it happened and not out in public. Grace always worried that she was going to spaz out in the open and that people would see her at her most vulnerable state. To have people look at her when she wasn't able to control her body. Grace pushed aside that worry and shook her head. "None. It's like I've been cured." She replied lightheartedly but she knew better than to get her hopes up. There was no cure for the type of neurological disorder she had. Just treatments.

Dr. Anderson gave the teen a glance. Her green eyes were sympathetic for a few seconds before they returned to their usual stoic self. She grabbed the pen that was on the clipboard before she started writing on Grace's medical papers. "We're going to do the usual blood test now and then afterwards we'll continue on with the regular check up." When Dr. Anderson finished writing she gazed up at her again. "You'll be informed of the blood results in one to three days."

"So..." Grace trailed on trying to sound nonchalant. "I'm fine, right?"

Dr. Anderson stood up. She fixed her an earnest expression. "We'll have to wait for the blood results." She reminded her.

"No, I know that but I mean for my other _thing_." Grace emphasized solemnly. She never liked to say the proper name of the neurological disorder she had.

"If what you told me is the truth regarding your current health, then yes." Dr. Anderson nodded her head.

Grace felt her worry slowly start to melt away. She was in the clear...for now. At least for the disorder she already had. She now had to wait for the blood test and see if she was still in the clear regarding the medical disease she also had the risk of getting.

Once she finished the blood test and the regular check up that's when Dr. Anderson told one of the nurses to escort Pepper in. The red haired woman had tagged along and respectfully followed Grace's request to wait outside the room. When Pepper came into the room Dr. Anderson informed her of everything she had told Grace. Pepper made sure to take note of everything she said before they both bid the doctor a farewell.

Once outside the consultation room, Pepper could see just how downhearted Grace looked. The dark eyed girl could sense Pepper's worried gaze on her. So like usual she decided to take the non-serious route.

"I guess this is what happens when your mom's side of the family has sucky genes." Grace told Pepper as way a to lighten the conversation. The smile she forced was more of a grimace. What she said didn't really make her feel better either. But what would? No matter the news she received—good or bad—leaving the doctor's office always put her in low spirits.

Pepper knew this so she just said the one thing that could possibly make things less despairing. "Come on, let's go home." She softly told her.

Grace cleared her throat before nodding her head. The Avengers Tower—no, her home was exactly where she wanted to be. She knew for certain though that as soon as she step foot inside that she'd go straight to her room. The dark eyed girl just wanted some alone time now. She wouldn't be able to fully feel better until she learned the results of the blood test.

* * *

"Ned for the last time, she said she would call me." Peter Parker informed his best friend yet again. The two teenagers were currently having lunch together in the cafeteria. So far for them it had been yet another regular day at Midtown High School of Science and Technology. They attended their first few classes, done the usual class work, and got bullied by Flash Thompson (more so Peter than Ned). In between all that though Peter had to endure Ned trying to bring Grace Stark into their conversation.

Peter didn't mind of course. He liked talking about Grace but Ned just asking the same question over and over again. Whether or not she had called or texted him back to set up a time to hang out. Peter didn't like answering that question more than once because sadly the answer was that Grace hadn't called or texted him. Not really. The last form of communication he had with her was the text she sent linking to a video of a tutorial to his new phone. Except that had been on the same day she had come over. Since then he hadn't heard anything from her. He tried not to let her absence get to him, because maybe she was just busy...she was Grace Stark after all. She probably had a ton of other cool things to do than to hang out with him. Thinking that just made Peter sigh and he picked at the food that was on his lunch tray with his fork.

"Dude, it's Wednesday." Ned exclaimed yet again to Peter. "It's been three days!"

Peter dropped his fork and looked at Ned. To be honest he wasn't even hungry anyways. The school food wasn't that appetizing to begin with. He made a mental note to start bringing his own lunch to school. "Well she said she would call me. Ned, I'm not going to be pushy and be the one to call her." His voice wavered as he rambled. "That'll just make me look like some low life stalker."

"Too late for that." A dry voice filled the air. Instantly recognizing the voice Ned and Peter looked to the side of them. There sitting not that far away from them was Michelle Jones. She had a book in her hands and a deadpan expression was set on her face. The two of them had already been in mid-conversation when she had sat down with her lunch. It didn't take long for Michelle to figure out what their conversation was about. A girl...typical. When she realized that she had gained their attention she shrugged her shoulders. "You already are." She added dully.

Peter took no offense to what she said. By now he was very much used to Michelle's harsh demeanor and comments. Despite Michelle probably denying if ever asked if they were friends, Peter wouldn't. He knew Ned wouldn't either.

A light bulb went off in Ned's head as he stared at Michelle. She was girl, so perhaps she could offer some advice in Peter's current dilemma. Peter himself could see the gears turning in Ned's eyes but he had idea where his best friend was going with this. Ned cleared his throat making Michelle give him a _'what do you want'_ look. "Michelle you're a girl—"

Michelle scoffed. "Wow, glad you have the skills to figure that out."

Ned continued on as if she said nothing. "What does it mean if a girl you like hasn't texted or called you in three days but said she would contact you."

There was silence between the three teens. The only noise being the ones coming from the other students eating and chatting in the cafeteria. Peter and Ned waited to hear what Michelle would say. Finally, after what felt like forever for Peter, Michelle decided to answer. "It means she has a life." The book lover answered simply. This answer relaxed Peter because it was what he had assumed from the beginning. Grace was just busy at the moment. However, what Michelle said next made his stomach drop. "That or she hates your guts and never wants to talk to you again." She stared blankly at Peter. "Knowing you I'd say it's the second option."

Peter blanched. _Oh God._..what if Michelle was right? Maybe he did something that annoyed or angered Grace the last time he saw her. But what? What could he have possibly done wrong? With wide eyes he thought of every single thing that happened the last time he had seen Grace. He tried his best to find any faults.

Michelle let Peter freak for a few more seconds before she stepped in. "I'm kidding." She said, straight-faced. The instant she said this Peter let out a breath of relief. "Maybe she's just busy. She's allowed to have a life and do other things and not just amuse boys. This is after all the twenty first century." With that being said Michelle went back to her reading. Completely shutting out the two boys.

Ned bumped his shoulder against Peter's to get his attention. "Maybe you should give her a surprise visit at the Tower." He randomly suggested, keeping his voice low this time.

Peter looked at his best friend, wide-eyed. "Ned that's a terrible idea." He answered lowly. He couldn't do that...right?

"Why?" Ned asked not seeing the issue there. "Just say you were in the neighborhood. Worth a try."

Peter continued to stare at his best friend. The suggestion he made kept going around in his head but he still wasn't one hundred percent convinced. And just as he was about to shake his head, Ned asked another question. This time managing to finally convince him.

"You want to see her again...don't you?"

Peter blushed and lowered his eyes onto his lunch tray. He did want to see Grace again...real bad. To get a chance to talk to her, to see that beautiful smile of hers, to hear her laugh. The feelings he had for Grace got the better of him and all the protests he had previously went away. He figured it wouldn't hurt to try. He lifted his gaze back towards Ned and nodded.

"I'll go tomorrow."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Next chapter features a Tony and Peter talk about why he lied xD Peter you got some explain' to do._


	12. Chapter 12

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 _ **A/N:** I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, even though it is short. I mean, writing an awkward and flustered **Peter Parker** when being "confronted" was fun for me :) Plus, I love the scenes between **Tony/Peter.** Rest assured there will be more **Grace/Peter** in the next chapter! Anyways, read away and enjoy!  
_

 ** _P.S._** _If you haven't done so yet check out my new Avengers story **Infinite**. It also involves **Grace Stark** but the story-line isn't AU like this story and it will instead follow all the Marvel movie story-lines. Right now I am covering the first Iron Man. It is a **Grace/Peter** pairing but the romance between them is still chapters away. I first want Grace to meet the other Avengers and form friendships/connections with them. _

* * *

**_Chapter 12: A father's concern_**

Peter Parker's stomach was doing all sorts of flips. Which meant only one thing...he was nervous.

 _Real_ nervous.

Thursday had come a lot sooner than he expected. Which really shouldn't have been that much of a surprise considering yesterday had been Wednesday. Still...time seemed to go a whole lot faster. Peter at first had been excited on seeing Grace again but now that he was actually there at the Tower, his excitement had turned into full on nervousness.

Even as the male teen had entered the main entrance of the Avengers Tower, he couldn't force a smile onto his face when the receptionist recognized him from before. Peter had just politely asked her if he could see Mr. Stark, giving her the lame excuse that he needed to discuss matters with him regarding the Stark Internship. Which was of course a flat out lie. The receptionist, whose name tag read _Julie_ allowed him to pass through and that she would inform Mr. Stark of his arrival.

Peter knew that he would run into Mr. Stark, but in his mind he had already come up with another excuse as to why he was there. Talk about his web-shooters. Yeah...that seemed decent enough...and then he would casually ask him about Grace. To Peter that plan was sound proof...too bad that plan was soon going to backfire on him.

It wasn't until Peter was in the elevator, heading to the main living floor of the Avengers Tower, that he was beginning to have seconds thoughts. His breathing started to come out uneven. Why in the world did he let Ned talk him into doing this? Just what the hell was _he_ thinking? Showing up out of the blue and acting like he had questions for Mr. Stark, when all he wanted was to talk to Grace...this wasn't right. He'd figure out some other way to talk to Grace again...a right way. Peter just needed to leave right now before he further humiliated himself. Just as he about to tell Friday to send him back down, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened smoothly. Peter's nerves only grew once he saw Mr. Stark standing on the other side of the door. The cool like expression the older man had on wasn't helping Peter calm down.

"Ah, Mr. Parker." Tony drawled out lazily. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Come to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage?" He asked coolly.

That really got to him. Peter's brown eyes widen. Half from nerves, and the other half from shock due to such a question. " _What_? Mr. Stark, I-I—"

Tony's cool demeanor fell apart as he laughed from hearing the teen stutter. "I'm kidding." His laughter stopped fairly quickly after he said this. Tony once again returned to his cool like self. His dark eyes appeared to be dead serious, resulting in Peter's nervousness to increase even more. "Really though, don't ask her that now or ever, got it."

Peter wasn't able to right away form a verbal reply. All he could think about was the way Mr. Stark was staring at him. He was so... _serious_. It was just plain weird to have Tony Stark give him such a look. Even with the past times Tony had lectured him before, it never had affected Peter like it was now. However, the teen came to the conclusion that it was because of Grace. Mr. Stark was just looking after his daughter, but it made Peter feel awful to think Mr. Stark didn't trust him to be around her. Peter would never let anything bad happen to Grace. He wanted to tell Mr. Stark this but all that came out of his mouth was the question of:

"Why would I even ask that?"

Peter right away wanted to hit his head against the wall. He blamed his nerves for this.

Tony's hard gaze faltered a bit and a curious, yet knowing expression took over. "Oh, I don't know...why would you lie about not knowing Spanish?" He asked innocently.

Peter's face flushed. _Oh crap...he knows._ He once again returned to his stuttering ways. "Um, I-I-I can explain..."

Tony didn't let him finish that sentence. He gave the male teen a narrowed gaze. "Have a seat, Underoos." He told him, gesturing to the living room couch. The same one Peter had hid behind when he saw Grace for the second time. "You and I need to have a little chat."

Peter gulped but did as he was told. He quickly made his way over to the couch and sat down. He tried to keep his composure (which he was failing to do) when Tony took a seat next to him. The billionaire turned to give Peter a nonchalant expression before briefly looking to the window that was behind them.

"Peter, do you see that window over there?" Tony asked now gesturing to said area. He kept his now laid-back demeanor but that did nothing to lessen Peter's nerves. Although it did raise his puzzlement.

Peter nodded his head. "Uh, yeah." He answered, bemused. He had no idea why Mr. Stark was saying, let alone showing him this.

"Here's some fun tidbit information for you." Tony's voice brighten up as he said this. "That's the window Loki threw me out of." He said causing Peter to look at him with a startled expression. "I was able to get my suit on before any real damage happened to me. However, just between us, if you ever hurt my daughter in anyway well..." He glanced between Peter and the window again as a way to get the message to stick with the teenager. "Let's just say you wouldn't have time to put on that blue and red suit of yours."

Pushing aside the fascinating, yet frightening information that was said to him, Peter swallowed the lump that was in his throat. "Mr. Stark, I would never do anything to hurt, Grace." He earnestly said to his mentor.

Tony raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that why you lied to her about not knowing Spanish?" He knew that Peter lying about not knowing another language wasn't as bad as other things that could have been done or even said. It's happened in the past before with kids who tried to befriend Grace when she wasn't home-schooled. It never ended well, resulting with a very sad Grace. Due to this, Tony knew how much Grace valued honesty. His daughter never did like it when people lied to her...no matter how little the lie was.

Peter lowered his brown eyes, ashamed. "I never should have lied to her about that." He said softly, apologetic. "I should have listened to my Aunt May and told Grace from the beginning. I'm sorry, Mr. Stark."

Tony nodded his head. "Yes, you should have. Except I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"I know." Peter said lifting his gaze. "Is Grace here now? If she is I'd rather tell her now than later. Once and for all...you know." He nervously rambled out.

Tony kept quiet, staring intently at Peter. All that silence had Peter worried that he was about to get kicked out...for good. He gulped and felt his heart beat pick up yet again. After what felt like a lifetime for Peter, Tony slowly nodded his head, deciding that was enough with messing with the boy's mind. He could clearly see how affected Peter was and as much as Tony found it amusing he knew he needed to cut it out. If Pepper had been here she would have surely scolded him for how he was acting with Peter. "Yeah, she's here. She's in her room."

"Would it be okay if I...?" Peter started to say but was unable to finish the sentence. Mainly because of the narrowed look Tony was now giving him.

"Go to her room?" Tony asked before faltering his over protective demeanor. "By all means, sure. Just remember what I said...about the window." He finished saying, a warning look (one that wasn't as harsh as before) now plastered on his face. "No funny business, Mr. Parker." He severely stressed out.

Peter felt his cheeks blush again. He knew what Mr. Stark was implying by no funny business. He wasn't even thinking about that but...oh God, now he felt like he was about to explode into confetti. He somehow was able to find his voice, among the embarrassment he was feeling and flustered mess he had become. "No funny business. I-I-I promise. I just want to tell her the truth."

Tony didn't say anything this time, just gestured for Peter to make his way. Peter got up from the couch, but he only took a few steps forward before curiosity got the best of him. He turned to give Mr. Stark a curious look. "How did you know about the whole Spanish thing?" Had his Aunt May told him? Despite her not approving of him lying to Grace, Peter doubted she told Mr. Stark. Not when she knew he was about to come clean. And now he was.

Tony simply grinned. "Did you forget, Mr. Parker? Your aunt and I have an agreement with you being Spider-Man, as long as you continue to have good grades."

Peter wanted to roll his eyes, but not at Mr. Stark. He wanted to roll his eyes at himself. The excitement about spending time with Grace had Peter completely forgetting about that agreement. "Oh." He muttered, instead letting out a sheepish smile. "Guess I forgot about that."

For some odd reason (call it fondness for the boy), Tony decided to be real with him. He let out a sigh, not at all acting like his casual self anymore. "Listen Peter, I know you're a good kid." And he really was. Tony _almost_ wished he could go back in time and behave more like Peter did when he was his age...not completely that is, but let's be honestly, he definitely could have been more selfless like Peter when he was younger. He gave Peter a rare honest smile. "And I'm happy that Grace is befriending someone her own age." That smile he had on fell a little after he said this. "She doesn't have friends her own age." He mentioned solemnly. Peter noticed this and frowned. Before he was able to comment on that, Tony's voice took a parental tone. "However, Grace is my daughter. So it's my job to look after her. Even when she's with nice boys like you."

It hurt Peter to hear Mr. Stark say that Grace didn't have friends her own age. He figured because she was _Grace Stark_ that she'd have many friends. She was well-known after all. The media talked about her all the time. However, it was then that Peter finally _realized_ that just because someone is famous or even rich, doesn't mean they'll have (let alone find) true friends. Sure money and power can get people a lot of things...but friends? Real to God honest friends that would always be there for you? That was a rare thing to find when a person was always in the spotlight.

Peter felt even worse now because lying to Grace about not knowing Spanish just made it seem like it was a way to get closer to her. And essentially it was, but Peter didn't care about her money or how powerful her last name was. Peter just wanted to get to know her. He just wanted to befriend her...he still did. He really needed to come clean and make things right before it was too late.

"I understand." Peter softly said causing Tony to look at him. _Really_ look at him. Seeing how genuine and guilty the boy appeared to be made Tony's over protectiveness lower a little.

Tony nodded his head, pleased. "That's good to hear." He earnestly replied, before he once again became his carefree self again. "But I'd tread carefully young one." This caused Peter to stop walking again. He glanced over his shoulder, a puzzled expression now crossed his youthful face. Tony knew he should stop messing with him (as he reasoned before), but he just couldn't help it. "If she gives you the scowl of doom... _run_. Save yourself while you still can." He said jokingly, but unfortunately Peter didn't take it as a joke.

The poor teen had on an expression that was on edge due to Tony's comment. He was able to to control his low laughter and avert his eyes once the elevator doors closed on Peter. Tony only said that to freak out Peter, and by the looks of it he did much to Tony's amusement. However, despite it being a joke there was some truth to it. His daughter Grace wasn't in the best of moods today. They had yet to be informed about her blood test, and the anticipation was getting to her...as it was for Tony and even Pepper.

Tony had high hopes that the blood test results would be the same as usual. Reporting that there was nothing else wrong with Grace. That she didn't have the same sickness that her mother Louisa was unfortunately diagnosed with. Tony could never picture Grace going through what her mother went through. It was too heartbreaking. Grace already had to deal with her current neurological disorder. She didn't need to add cancer into that mix as well.

Tony sighed. He didn't want to think anymore about that. It would only get his mood to fall apart. And he certainly didn't want to be in a bad mood...not when Grace was in one already. Someone (other than Pepper that is) needed to stay on the positive side for his daughter. He glanced over to the elevator again. Perhaps having Peter tell her the truth now about him already knowing Spanish wasn't the best of times.

However, a little voice in his head told him otherwise.

Maybe the visit from Peter and the honesty he was about to deliver would strangely do her some good.

Tony found himself smiling. Yeah...perhaps it would.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own the **Avengers** or any other **Marvel** characters. I only own my OC._

 _ **A/N:** I was able to finish this chapter today and it has been awhile since I've updated this story and **Infinite**. Sadly I don't know when I'm gonna be able to update **Infinite** or this story again but just know that neither one is being abandoned. I just have school and it's been a very busy semester. If you're following **Floating On Air** then you guys know exactly why as I explained in my author's note there. When I'm able to get breaks in between classes and just life in general, I'll work on chapters. Though little by little. Anyways, enjoy this chapter with Peter and Grace seeing each other again. Also, later on I'm gonna fix the grammar mistakes from the other chapters! _

_**P.S.** Enjoy the **Stranger Things** mention in this chapter! I also don't own the song used in this chapter!_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 13: We're friends, right?**_

The moment Peter stepped out of the elevator (after asking Friday which floor Grace's room was on), he heard music playing. And how could he not? The music was playing pretty loud. The brown eyed boy could even tell what the exact lyrics were as he walked down the hallway to the room. Each step took him closer to Grace's room, and that just increased the nervousness that grew inside of him. However, the lyrics strangely helped him.

 _Then I look at you_  
 _And the world's alright with me_  
 _Just one look at you_  
 _And I know it's gonna be_  
 _A lovely day_  
 _A lovely day_

Listening to lyrics made the nervousness he felt falter. Peter was now even able to identify the song. It was _Lovely Day_ by _Bill Withers._ The song was pretty cheerful, which just bemused the teen. Why had Mr. Stark warned him about Grace's mood? Just by the music Peter could tell she was in a rather good mood...at least that's what he thought for the time being.

The moment finally came when Peter reached his destination. Grace's bedroom...or rather her bedroom's door. For a brief second there he thought about bolting but quickly pushed that thought aside. That would be cowardly and he needed to tell Grace the truth just as he said to Mr. Stark and his Aunt May that he would do. Swallowing the nervous lump he had in his throat, Peter then quickly knocked approximately three times on her bedroom door. His heart rate escalated even more the music came to a stop and footsteps then entered his ears. His face felt really warm when the bedroom door finally opened, revealing none other than Grace Stark.

To say Grace was taken back by Peter's presence would be an understatement. She was beyond surprised but not in a bothersome way. "Peter?" She asked furrowing her eyebrows. A small frown settled onto her face. "What are you doing here?"

Grace hadn't spoken to the brown eyed boy for a few days now. Not that she was purposely ignoring him. Grace was just in a rather funky mood as of late because of her doctor's visit and the pending test blood results. She didn't want to bring anyone else down with the grey cloud that's been over her head. Her dad often joked that whenever she was in a bad mood that she could cause thunder storms. Grace knew he was joking as a way to lighten things up but in a way what he said was the truth. She really did have a tendency to be a Debbie Downer at times. Grace still remembered the time she had made Thor frown. Thor of all people! The guy was always smiling or laughing robustly. Making him frown was something Grace was not proud of.

Peter's nervousness returned. That wasn't the reaction he was hoping for. Not that he was expecting something spectacular or anything. In truth her reaction was a realistic one but it wasn't what Peter had wanted to see. Still, Peter went with what he got. He smiled and then raised one of his hands to do a half wave. He inwardly cringed after this was done. He quickly lowered his hand to his side and opened his mouth ready to fully speak. However, all that came out was a rather unmanly noise that sounded like a gasp. After this was done he expected Grace to give him a look that said, " _You're such a weirdo."_ Except to his relief she didn't throw such a look his way. Instead Grace had her head tilted to the side a bit, a playful smile appearing on her youthful face.

She released a laugh. "Hello to you too."

Relieved that she wasn't looking at him like a complete weirdo, Peter was able to find his voice. "Hey." He greeted again, this time more confident. It was then that Peter took a good look at what she was wearing. Grace was wearing her typical pair of skinny jeans, black _Vans_ for shoe wear, but what really caught his attention was the t-shirt she was wearing. It was a _Stranger Things_ t-shirt. The t-shirt design didn't have the usual TV show logo on it but instead said the famous _Eleven_ phrase: _Friends don't lie._ Peter inwardly groan. Why did she have to wear that shirt today of all days? After thinking that question, and from seeing her t-shirt, Peter once again remembered why he was there. Plus she had also asked what he was doing there. He shyly looked into her dark eyes. "Is it okay if I can come in? There's something I need to tell you."

Grace didn't hesitate answering. She had no idea what he needed to tell her but she stepped aside. "Come in." She opening the door wide enough for him to walk through.

Despite having his stomach in knots for what he was about to tell her, Peter happily went inside. He was entering Grace Stark's room. He didn't mean to sound like a total creep but this was just too much for him. He, however, was pleasantly surprised by what he was seeing once inside.

Grace's room was not at all what Peter expected. He once read that a room said a lot about a person. And once gazing around Grace's room he figured that was true. Despite her room being completely different from what he expected, Peter had to admit Grace's room was definitely as interesting as her. It reflected her personality perfectly. There was all kinds of band posters and movie posters over her light blue colored walls. Clearly Grace was a fan of horror movies because most the movie posters she had up were horror ones. She even had the movie poster for the 1982 horror movie, _The Thing._

Now Peter himself wasn't that huge on horror movies but he had seen the movie _The Thing_ with his Uncle Ben when he had been younger. His uncle loved horror movies with a passion. Peter was introduced to a lot of movies through his uncle. A lot of classic movies. Some were horror some were not. They were movies that Peter loved making references to. Even the scary ones. Peter had even seen the movie _Alien_ with him. Another horror movie. Except it was _The Thing_ that was his uncle's all time favorite alien flick. Despite kid Peter being absolutely afraid after watching the film, and the memory of his Aunt May lecturing his Uncle Ben on letting him watch it, Peter found the whole experience to be heartwarming. Plus the special effects during that time was amazing. So Peter couldn't help the little smile that escaped him when seeing that horror movie poster.

As for bands, Peter saw the names such as _AC/DC, Queen, David Bowie,_ and many others. However, his gaze lingered a tad bit longer on the _Tori Amos_ poster before he found one that really stood out to him. _Stevie Nicks._ Although Peter recognized the name _Tori Amos,_ he knew little to nothing of that singer but he did know who _Stevie Nicks_ was. She was the singer for _Fleetwood Mac._ His Aunt May was a huge fan. He remembered how his Aunt May mentioned before going through a _Stevie Nicks_ phase in college. Peter smiled. Guess Grace and his aunt had something in common.

As he continued to look around, Peter's smile grew when his eyes landed on the cute dinosaur figurines that were lined up on the shelf next to her desk that had her computer and stuff. On that same shelf were a ton of books all lined up neatly next to one another. She had a whole shelf that was filled with _Stephen King_ books. No surprise _IT_ was there as well. Seeing the book made Peter remember how she said her celebrity crush was _Bill Skarsgård._

His smile fell and a sinking feeling filled his stomach. Peter had managed to do some research on this _Bill Skarsgård_ fellow and as much as he wanted to deny it, Peter had to admit the guy was rather good looking. What with his tall height, dark blonde hair, and murky green eyes, it was no wonder Grace was all starry eyed for the actor. Besides re-watching the trailer for the upcoming new _IT_ movie, Peter had also seen a few episodes of the show _Hemlock Grove_ and even though it was a disturbing show (with a lot of inappropriate scenes), it was good in its own way. It reminded Peter of _American Horror Story_. He had a feeling Grace was a fan of that TV show as well. Peter was learning that Grace had a deep interest and fascination for disturbing and peculiar shows and books. And both TV shows were oddly entertaining in their own way.

As he moved his gaze around the bedroom again, Peter saw the various CD's she had. He found himself walking closer to her CD stand. He noticed that her music choices varied. There was one specific artist that had him looking at her with delight surprise.

 _"Bob Marley?"_ He asked throwing a smile her way.

Grace walked over towards where he was. She had seen how he was looking around her room and she was worried that for some reason he wasn't liking what he was seeing. That shouldn't have been a concern of hers but Peter had been so quiet. After he had noticed her CD collection and pointed out _Bob Marley_ out of all the artists she had, a small bitter smile appeared on her face. "My Uncle Miguel got me into his music." Grace without thinking confessed to him. She nearly closed her mouth after she said that. The teen hardly ever talked about her Uncle Miguel. For various reasons. She cleared her throat, wanting to move on with the conversation. "You have to admit he has a lot of good songs. Actually, scratch that... _all_ of his songs are good."

Peter nodded his head. "I agree."

The bedroom got quiet again with the two teens silently earnestly staring at each other...but the quietness soon ended. Peter's attention drifted towards the paintings that were on her desk. How he had not seen those before he had no idea. There was two on the desk and both were done. One painting was of space and the other was a forest. Both paintings were amazing. Although Peter had to say his favorite one was the space painting. There was just something mystical about that one.

"Did you paint these?" Peter blurted out in awe. He now stood in front of her desk, admiring the paintings.

Grace went to stand next to him. She had a sheepish smile on her face as she saw him look at her work. "Yeah, um, it's a hobby of mine."

"You're really good." Peter complimented looking her way again. "I mean, these are incredible."

Grace felt her cheeks warm from hearing such a compliment. "Thanks." She cleared her throat. Although she liked the compliment he gave her, Grace was never one for receiving praise. It felt weird to receive compliments from people. She was just too self-effacing, as her dad would say. "So...you have something to tell me?" She asked Peter. After she said this she noticed how Peter became visibly tense. She frowned. Why did he seem so...nervous? Was what he needed to tell her bad or something? Her stomach did a flip. Great...now she was nervous.

Peter lowered his eyes towards the ground. He knew needed to tell her the truth. He really should have told her as soon as he stepped inside her bedroom but he had gotten easily distracted. Her bedroom was just too cool. There was just so many thing to look at. However, the time for distractions was over and the truth needed to be told. He lifted his eyes from the ground to stare into her lovely dark brown eyes. "Grace...I do have something to confess to you."

The slight shake she was able to detect in his voice made Grace give him a look of concern mixed with bewilderment. The nervousness she felt also grew. "What is it?"

Peter decided to tell her right away. Like ripping off a bandage. He inhaled air before he exhaled, releasing the truth rather quickly. "I don't need Spanish lessons." Luckily Grace was able to tell what he said but unfortunately misinterpreted the meaning.

Grace sighed, feeling bad. "I know I've been lagging on your lessons..."

Peter shook his head. In no way did he want her to think she was failing him. This wasn't her fault. "No, what I mean is that I don't need Spanish lessons because I already know Spanish." He skittishly confessed to her. "I'm actually already enrolled in a Spanish class at school...and I'm passing."

Grace calmly processed what he said. On the inside though she was feeling various emotions. She did her best to not show those emotions on her face. After a few seconds she spoke again. "So, you lied to me."

Peter shifted his feet. "Yes." He couldn't tell if she was mad, annoyed, or even sad. Her voice and nor did her expression (which was unreadable) didn't give him any clues as to how she was taking the confession. That actually made him feel more nervous. She really was reminding him of Mr. Stark right at this moment. "I just wanted to spend time with you." He told her as if that would make everything better. Peter, however, knew that it wouldn't.

Grace narrowed her eyes as she pursed her lips. "Peter, we're friends, right?"

Hearing her say that made his nervousness momentarily go away. "Yes!" Peter answered quickly. He cleared his throat. "I mean, yeah." He replied again, trying to sound more relaxed.

"Okay, well now that we have confirmed that, what does my shirt say?" Grace asked him.

Peter felt the guilt from before return. "Friends don't lie." He answered her lowly.

Grace nodded her head. "Exactly..." She said evenly before her voice softened. "But since our friendship wasn't technically confirmed until now...you didn't really lie." She shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, you did but you didn't lie to me as a friend of mine. So..."

"So?" Peter repeated sounding hopeful yet again. His brown eyes stared at her intently.

Grace gave him a faux hesitant look before a smile appeared on her face. To Peter it was a smile that could light up a dark room. "All is good."

Was this for real? Peter almost pinched himself but stopped himself from doing so. "Really?"

Grace nodded her head. "Yes, really. But please don't ever lie to me again. I know it's a rather silly request but..." Her voice became vulnerable as did her eyes. "I can't handle lying. The amount of times I've been lied to in the past by people my own age...well, I've actually lost count by now." She found herself opening up more to him and this time she didn't stop.

"I've never actually had a best friend before. Or real friends in general. I mean, I thought I had a best friend once, but she just ended up hurting me." Grace looked heart broken thinking about the one girl she had cared for more than a best friend. The girl she grew close to and the girl who caused her first heart ache with her cruelty. Whoever said guys were worse than girls when it came to bullying was wrong. At least with guys it's punches and straight to the point. With girls it's false hope and constant backstabbing. Grace would have gladly received a punch to the face rather than the crap she had been through during her middle school years.

The memory of her best friend/crush/turned enemy went away when she realized what she said to Peter. "Not that I'm saying we're best friends." Grace quickly interjected. She panicked even more when she saw the bemused look Peter got after she said this. "I mean, not that I wouldn't like being best friends because I would." She let out a sigh running a hand through her messy wavy hair. "I'm just glad we're friends." She clarified, her cheeks red as a rose.

Peter grew quiet as he looked at her rosy cheeks. Her rambling actually not only amused him but it relaxed him as well. It was cute. She was cute. Adding to that, her telling him about the issues she's had with people lying to her made Peter feel special. She was actually opening up to him. Mr. Stark had told him this but it counted more now that Grace told him. It hurt hearing her say that and Peter wanted to reassure her that he would never hurt her the same way that jerk of a girl did to her, as well as the other liars she had encountered. Peter lied to her once already but he wasn't about to lie to her again. His features softened as he spoke. "I promise I won't lie to you anymore."

"Good." Grace smiled and put her hand around his shoulders, bringing him to her side. Although it was a total friendly gesture, it had Peter's heart racing like crazy. Peter was forever glad Grace wasn't enhanced like him otherwise she would have been able to feel his heartbeat. "Now let's go get ice-cream." She brightly told him before growing serious. "Just not at Baskin Robbins."

Peter had to control his voice in order for it not to waver due to her closeness. "Why not from there?"

"Because..." Grace drawled looking straight into those brown eyes of his. "Basket Robins knows everything." She said before breaking her serious act to let out a round of laughter. "Sorry, it's just something Scott told me."

"Scott?" Peter questioned.

"Yeah, aka Ant-Man." Grace clarified.

This time it was Peter's turn to laugh. "Oh, right. Where to then?'

Grace smiled as she leaned in even closer to him. Peter not only felt his cheeks start to warm up but he was pretty sure his ears were red as tomatoes. "That my dear Spider-Boy is a surprise. Now follow me if you want to live and have delicious ice cream!" She announced excitedly. She then let go of him and started walking towards her door.

Peter didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't. He wasn't even bothered at the fact that she had called him Spider-Boy. He was too dazed by her. He just let Grace lead the way. He found her excited demeanor to be different but it was also cute and amusing. Grace Stark really kept him on his toes. She really was Tony Stark's daughter. His crush on her was becoming more and more harder to control. In Peter Parker's life there were many things he was unsure of. However, one of the few things he was sure of was that he wanted to be more than friends with Grace. He did promise he wouldn't lie to her anymore and he wasn't going to. If Grace asked him if he liked her more than a friend he would gladly say yes.

Only problem was he had a feeling she wouldn't be asking that question any time soon. Peter sadly wasn't brave enough yet to tell Grace the feelings he had for her. Not unless he knew that she felt the same way. The fear of rejection had won and it would continue to win for awhile.


End file.
